Environmental journalist Erastus Asare Donkor has alleged that the military is providing protection for an illegal mining operation deep within the Anwiaso East Forest Reserve in Ghana’s Western North Region.
Speaking on The Pulse on JoyNews, Mr. Donkor revealed that his investigative team has been monitoring the activity for months, uncovering extensive environmental destruction and suspicious security presence at the site.
“We have been monitoring them for some time now,” he said. “There are military personnel protecting them. They’ve mounted a barrier manned by fully uniformed soldiers and individuals wielding weapons, parading as national security operatives.”
Describing the extent of devastation, he said the forest reserve has been “massively” impacted, with mining pits and excavators ravaging land equivalent to about 15 football fields.
“This mining has been going on for months within that particular enclave,” he noted.
Mr. Donkor further stated that video evidence had been submitted to the appropriate authorities. However, he expressed disappointment that no action has yet been taken.
“We have submitted footages to the necessary authorities who should know, and we were expecting that something would have been done. But we have not heard anything from them. That is why we are also putting out this information,” he explained.
He described the site as a “secret illegal mining enclave,” stressing that the operation is entirely unregistered and unauthorized.
“I say illegal because we have checked — it’s totally unregistered. The people operating in that enclave do not have any licence whatsoever to be mining there,” he said.
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