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The government will set up special courts for the speedy prosecution of persons cited for illegal mining, commonly called galamsey in local circles.
To that end, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is working with the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General as well as the judiciary to firm up modalities for the setting up of the courts.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, made this known to the Daily Graphic, stressing that the government would ensure expedited prosecution of illegal miners.
The Daily Graphic spoke to the minister against the backdrop of calls by some stakeholders in the forestry sector and environmental activists for the setting up of specialised courts to swiftly prosecute those who would fall foul of mining regulations.
Those who made the call are the Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Dr Hugh Brown; Daryl Bosu of A Rocha Ghana, an environmental civil society organisation (CSO); and the Convener of the Media Coalition against Galamsey, Dr Kenneth Ashigbey.
In the view of the stakeholders, the weak prosecution regime remained one of the weakest links in the fight against galamsey, and as such the setting up of dedicated courts would help to clear hundreds of outstanding cases related to environmental crimes.
They said the setting up of the specialised courts would ensure that persons arraigned for illegal mining were made to promptly face the law to deter others.
Section 99 of the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act 995) provides that a Ghanaian engaged in illegal mining, or one who commands, instigates or employs others to engage in illegal mining commits an offence and is liable, upon summary conviction, to a fine of not less than 10,000 penalty units (GH¢120,000) and not more than 15,000 penalty units (GH¢180,000) and to a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years and not more than 25 years.
For a foreigner engaged in illegal mining, Act 995 stipulates a fine of not less than 100,000 penalty units (GH¢1.2 million) and not more than 300,000 penalty units (GH¢3.6 million) and a term of imprisonment of not less 20 years and not more than 25 years, or both the fine and the term of imprisonment.
While many, including foreigners, have been arrested over the years for engaging in illegal mining in contravention of Act 995, just a handful of such people have been successfully prosecuted.
For instance, data from the Forestry Commission revealed that 845 persons were arrested for mining in forest reserves across the country in the past two years, 627 of them arrested last year, and 218 arrested in 2023.
However, only 20 of those people have been prosecuted, with many of the cases pending, while the culprits are on remand or police enquiry bail.
Dr Ashigbey stressed that in line with the spirit of the 24-hour economy policy, it was important for the prosecution of galamsey offenders to be done without any hitches.
"The 24-hour economy means we should have courts that sit for 24 hours to deal with environmental crimes, particularly galamsey.
"The Chief Justice should know that we are not in normal times; galamsey operators are killing our forest guards, they are destroying our lands and depleting our forest reserves, so we need the judiciary to act swiftly on this matter," he stressed.
He added that the judiciary must hand out stiffer sanctions to illegal miners, particularly foreigners, "because they cannot come and destroy our environment with this illegality".
"Foreigners who mine illegally must be dealt with by our courts just as they will be dealt with in their countries," he stressed.
Dr Brown described the rate of prosecution of illegal miners as appalling, and said such a situation did not send a strong signal that the state was ready to hand swift sentences to the culprits to deter others.
“In 2023, most of the 218 persons arrested for mining in forest reserves were high-profile arrests, and we thought some action should have been taken by now to send a strong signal that we mean business, but some of them are still on police inquiry bail, and it is taking the police forever to finish the investigation to put them before court,” Dr Brown said.
He said it was disheartening that although the Forestry Commission continued to go through terrible situations to arrest illegal miners, the needed support in terms of prosecutions was not forthcoming.
“If we have over 800 arrests in two years and just about 20 are prosecuted, it does not send any positive signal of a system that frowns on illegal mining,” he stressed.
Dr Brown added that apart from setting up specialised courts, it was also important to build the capacity of prosecutors and judges to understand environmental crimes and their impact on the ecology, public health and humanity in general so that they could appreciate things better.
He also said in lieu of specialised courts, there could be special courts, which would work faster on environmental issues.
For Mr Bosu, who is the Deputy National Director of A Rocha Ghana, the call for specialised or special courts for environmental crimes was long overdue.
“It is more fun to say that we should have special courts, but there is lack of commitment to do so,” he said.
Mr Bosu said it was worrying that although the various military operations, including Operation Halt and Operation Vanguard, had arrested hundreds of people, “there is no one to prosecute them”.
“There need to be a system that ensures that there is continuation in the prosecution process from one point to the other,” he added.
