Blue Water Guards deployment hits 2,069 amid anti-galamsey push
Government has deployed an additional 452 Blue Water Guards to strengthen the protection of water bodies against illegal mining, bringing the total number of personnel deployed across eight regions to 2,069.
The disclosure was made by the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, during the Government Accountability Series held at the Presidency on Wednesday
“Government also strengthened water body protection against illegal mining through the recruitment, training and deployment of an additional 452 Blue Water Guards, bringing total deployments across eight regions to 2,069 personnel,” he said.
He stated that the Ministry had also strengthened institutional oversight of the small-scale mining sector, with 4,347 earth-moving and mining equipment units registered at the Tema Port and 1,864 tracking devices installed on the equipment, alongside 52 mercury pollution abatement training programmes conducted during the period under review.
The Minister said the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, remained one of the Ministry’s highest priorities, noting that the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat had sustained nationwide operational tempo across six endemic regions, namely Ashanti, Western, Western North, Eastern, Bono/Ahafo and Central.
He said a total of 200 operations were executed across 53 districts, recording an operational strike rate of 84.1 per cent.
According to him, 169 enforcement operations targeted illegal mining sites, forest reserves, river bodies and concession encroachments, resulting in the arrest of 207 suspects, comprising 161 Ghanaians and 46 foreign nationals.
“The suspects were processed and handed over to the security services for appropriate action,” he said.
Mr Armah-Kofi Buah added that between January and June this year, 78 excavators were seized and 90 immobilised on site, 2,800 chanfangs were destroyed on river bodies, and 1,244 makeshift structures associated with illegal mining camps were destroyed.
He said other items retrieved from active and abandoned galamsey sites included 302 water pumps, 31 vehicles, 72 motorbikes, 18 generators, two pay loaders, five gold detector machines, three outboard motors, three weighing scales and two mini car washing machines, with the water pumps handed over to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to support irrigation efforts.
He said 112 pump action rifles, two sidearms, two locally manufactured rifles and 1,637 rounds of assorted ammunition were also recovered and handed over to the Ministry of the Interior for destruction.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
