The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has reaffirmed its commitment to sustaining the fight against illegal mining, describing the campaign as a marathon that requires persistent efforts to remove illegal mining infrastructure from Ghana’s rivers.
Colonel K.S. Appiah, Director of Operations at NAIMOS, said the secretariat remained determined to dismantle structures and equipment used for illegal mining despite the difficult conditions its task forces encounter during operations.
Addressing the media on Thursday, October 22, he said the continued presence of such equipment in water bodies would worsen the environmental damage caused by illegal mining if enforcement efforts were abandoned.
“As has been mentioned on many occasions, the fight against illegal mining is a marathon, and we are poised to go through this race to ensure that we take out all illegal mining infrastructure on our river bodies,” he said.
Colonel Appiah acknowledged that removing illegal mining equipment from rivers was a demanding task, particularly because of the size and weight of the machinery and the difficulty of accessing some mining sites.
He explained that task force personnel often had to dismantle or burn makeshift mining platforms and chanfangs because transporting them out of river bodies was difficult, with some locations lacking accessible roads for trucks and other heavy vehicles.
“It is very difficult to move them out of the rivers because road access and access for trucks to the areas are almost impossible. So, we need to destroy and burn them, and later, in coordination with the GSDC, which has the capability to lift them from the river bodies,” he said.
Colonel Appiah maintained that despite the logistical challenges, NAIMOS would continue its operations to remove illegal mining infrastructure from rivers and strengthen efforts to protect Ghana’s water bodies from further degradation.
