By Dennis Ato Keelson
Wacam, a grassroots human rights and environmental justice organisation focused on mining accountability, has called for urgent and independent investigations into allegations that public officials are profiting from protection fees imposed on illegal mining operations in the Amansie Central District of the Ashanti Region.
The call follows an investigative documentary by JoyNews’ Hotline titled “A Tax for Galamsey: The Extortion Racket Fueling Illegal Mining”, which claimed that individuals vested with public authority in local governance and law enforcement structures were collecting unlawful payments in exchange for turning a blind eye to unlicensed mining activities.
In a statement signed by its Technical Director, Kwaku Afari, Wacam described the documentary’s revelations as evidence of a collapse in regulatory oversight and a perversion of institutional mandates, demanding immediate executive and judicial attention.
“It is profoundly disturbing that any level of governance would seek to rationalise or assimilate proceeds extracted from criminal mining activities as legitimate revenue. Such a posture demands immediate public accountability and transparent explanations,” the statement said.
“No amount of repackaging or rebranding can render payments derived from illegal mining lawful. They remain illegitimate and cannot, under any circumstance, flow into State coffers or benefit any public entity,” it added.
Wacam warned that continued tolerance of unofficial bargains and administrative laxity in addressing illegal mining is eroding constitutional order, magnifying corruption, and worsening ecological and social damage in mining communities. The organisation called for credible, impartial investigations into the documentary’s allegations, followed by decisive sanctions against mining operators and public officers found to have violated their mandates.
The group highlighted Ghana’s mining laws, noting that illegal mining offences extend beyond unlicensed miners to anyone who aids, abets, encourages, or protects such operations, with convicted persons facing fines and custodial sentences.
Wacam urged state institutions responsible for curbing illegal mining to execute their duties with integrity and resist collusion, stressing that decades of environmental degradation and livelihood destruction in affected communities must not be compounded by official complicity.
