The Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Operations at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Professor Michael Ayamga-Adongo, has warned that declaring a state of emergency in mining areas could backfire and plunge communities into violent conflict.
His caution comes as civil society organisations and, most recently, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference intensify calls for the government to declare a state of emergency to curb illegal mining, known locally as galamsey.
But speaking to JoyNews’ Elton Brobbey on The Pulse on Monday, Professor Ayamga-Adongo said the move could worsen tensions instead of solving the crisis. According to him, the widespread community involvement in illegal mining makes the situation far more volatile than many advocates of an emergency may realise.
He stressed that military deployment under such a declaration could lead to violent clashes between security personnel and local residents, describing the potential outcome as a “blood bath.”
“It’s easier said than done. Declare a state of emergency, go there with guns and shoot people,” he said, describing how the character of illegal mining has changed. “Two, three years ago, we would have said, Okay, it’s Chinese financing illegal mining. And then you had businessmen and politicians going in.
“Now, what we are increasingly seeing is community involvement in illegal mining… Then the end game is, can you talk to them so that they also allow us to do some of the mining? So if we take in guns there, we are going to have a blood bath.”
Professor Ayamga-Adongo further argued that those calling for a state of emergency may be overlooking the long-term implications.
“Everybody calling for the state of emergency, they don’t know what they are calling for… because the cost of human life there is going to be enormous that we may not even in the end, end galamsey. We may end up having a conflict going out of it.”