Wacam, a grassroots human rights and environmental justice organisation focused on mining sector accountability, has demanded urgent and independent investigations into mounting allegations that public officials are profiting from protection fees levied on illegal mining operations in the Amansie Central District of the Ashanti Region.
The demand follows an explosive investigative documentary by JoyNews’ Hotline titled, A tax for Galamsey: The extortion racket fueling illegal mining, which uncovered claims that persons clothed with public authority within local governance and law enforcement structures are collecting unlawful payments in exchange for turning a blind eye to irresponsible and unlicensed mining activities.
In a strongly worded statement issued and signed by its Technical Director, Kwaku Afari, Wacam described the documentary’s revelations as evidence of a deep-seated collapse of regulatory oversight and a perversion of institutional mandates requiring immediate executive and judicial attention.
“It is profoundly disturbing that any level of governance would seek to rationalise or assimilate proceeds extracted from criminal mining activities as legitimate revenue. Such a posture demands immediate public accountability and transparent explanations,” the statement said. “No amount of repackaging or rebranding can render payments derived from illegal mining lawful. They remain illegitimate and cannot, under any circumstance, flow into State coffers or benefit any public entity.”
The organisation cautioned against Ghana’s continued drift toward normalising administrative laxity, unofficial bargains, and silent endorsements in addressing unlawful mining, insisting that these approaches have failed and must give way to uncompromising enforcement, environmental protection, and adherence to human rights standards.
“This trajectory of tolerance and quiet compromise is eroding constitutional order, fertilising corruption, and magnifying the ecological and social wreckage in mining landscapes,” the statement stressed. “What is required now is credible, impartial investigations into every allegation raised by the documentary, followed by decisive punitive measures against both mining operators and public officers found to have breached their oaths and mandates.”
Wacam further drew attention to clear provisions in Ghana’s mining legal framework which establish that the offence of illegal mining extends beyond unlicensed excavators to include any person who aids, abets, encourages, or offers protection to such operations. Convicted persons face punitive sanctions including substantial fines and lengthy custodial sentences.
Against this backdrop, the group urged the State to compel institutions with statutory responsibility for curbing illegal mining to execute their functions with integrity and rigour, and to resist the temptation to collude with or draw advantage from the very illegality they are empowered to suppress.
Wacam further recalled three decades of systematic ecological degradation and livelihood destruction visited upon farming communities, women, and young persons by both small-scale and industrial mining actors. It warned that the emerging narrative of official complicity risks compounding the enduring pain and dispossession suffered by these vulnerable populations.
