Speaking at a breakfast meeting with Editors in Accra on Monday, the minister said the media played a pivotal role in in combating illegal mining calling on the media to be active in “amplifying the government’s efforts.”

The engagement which coin­cided with reports of an attack on Forestry Commission officers was aimed to clarify the complexities of illegal mining and rally media support to address the menace.

He further urged the media to remain vocal and objective in the fight against galamsey, saying: “the fight against galamsey should not be politicised.”   

Providing a detailed overview of the galamsey situation inherited by the Mahama administration, Mr Buah revealed that upon taking office, nine forest reserves had already fallen under the complete control of illegal miners.

He also disclosed the alarming rate of which water bodies in the country were been polluted by the menace.

“Turbidity levels in water treat­ed by the Ghana Water Limited ranged between 5,000 and 12,000 NTU, more than 10 times the permissible point (500 NTU) for water treatment,” he noted.

“The scale of land degradation is equally staggering as illegal min­ing consumes an area equivalent to 7,500 football fields,” he added.

To address this, he mentioned that the government had put in place measures to curb and ulti­mately eradicate illegal mining in the country

The measures he outlined included enforcement of existing laws through strengthening col­laboration with law enforcement agencies to intensify crackdowns and structural overhaul where teams will be reshuffled to man the sites and forest areas to pre­vent complacency and buffer the existing force in order to ensure adequate cover in all areas.

Others were involving tradition­al leaders and local authorities and the District Security Councils in the licensing process, establishing a monitoring system to track min­ing equipment and activities in real time as well as raising awareness to foster collective responsibility in the fight against galamsey.

Furthermore, Mr Buah also lamented the flaws in the cur­rent licensing system as a major enabler of illegal mining saying the centralised process lacked stakeholder engagement which diminished authority.

To bridge this gap, he said the government was decentralising the licensing regime to ensure that stakeholders like traditional authorities and District Security Councils become the first point of approval for mining permits.

The media practitioners commended the Minister for the engagement and pledged to use their platforms to bolster the fight against illegal mining.