Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Dr. Ashigbey described the meeting as a “positive engagement” that reflected the President’s willingness to involve all stakeholders in addressing the country’s deepening environmental crisis.

“The engagement was a positive one in terms of carrying everybody along — some of the things we are doing, the assurances from President Mahama and the Lands Minister on the galamsey fight,” he noted.

Dr. Ashigbey praised President Mahama for showing “political leadership” on the matter, saying he was convinced the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah was also working diligently to reverse the damage caused by illegal mining.

However, he acknowledged that significant challenges remain, noting that the meeting’s format did not allow CSOs to fully table their demands or probe certain pressing issues.

“We were expecting the President to give us milestones and timelines that will define success in the fight against galamsey,” he said. “Nonetheless, it was a good first step, and we look forward to continued engagement.”

Dr. Ashigbey reiterated the CSOs’ long-standing call for a state of emergency to be declared, particularly in the Volta Lake area, where water turbidity levels have reached alarming heights.

“Last year, then-former President Mahama called for a state of emergency in the Volta Lake area. Today, with turbidity levels around 90,000, the need is even more urgent,” he emphasized.

He further urged government agencies to strengthen monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, recommending that the Ghana Water Limited and the Community Water and Sanitation Agency regularly publish water quality data to ensure transparency and public accountability.

Dr. Ashigbey also called for frequent testing of soil and food quality by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other research bodies to track contamination trends.

Touching on the broader fight against illegal mining, he highlighted the need to tackle illicit financial flows and hold powerful financiers, chiefs, and politically exposed persons accountable.

“The real criminals are not the poor people caught in the pits but the rich and influential people behind the scenes. Some chiefs have resisted galamsey, which shows leadership, but others have failed their communities and must be held responsible,” he said.

Dr. Ashigbey concluded by urging the National House of Chiefs to take a firmer stance against traditional leaders who enable illegal mining and called for continued collaboration between the government and CSOs to sustain the momentum of the fight.

Source: Gertrude Otchere

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Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Mr Kpebu described the dialogue as an important opportunity to press for concrete action.

“We will need even a number of multitudes beyond today’s meeting. In governance, participatory governance or democracy, this meeting to me is a masterstroke. Let the CSOs have an encounter with the President, then they can push in more,” he said.

He said he was surprised that some people were downplaying the importance of the meeting.

“So when I heard some of the CSO members saying, No, this is just a talk shop, it is not necessary, I was like really? You will need to see him and push him further. That is a golden opportunity to make a bigger pitch. So let nobody say that this is just a talk shop, no. It is actually baffling that this is just a talk shop,” he stressed.

Mr Kpebu added that he expects President Mahama to provide more clarity on the government’s anti-galamsey measures, possibly through NAIMOS or other designated officers.

“Apart from pushing the President further, what I expect is that he is going to detail officers, maybe beyond NAIMOS, or if it’s NAIMOS, they will tell us. It gives us information about everything they are doing,” he explained.

He said that while the government is making some progress in addressing illegal mining, poor communication is creating a gap between action and public perception.

“My sense of the matter is that government is doing something reasonable, but because it is not being communicated fully, we are relying on old data to increase the advocacy,” he said.

On the role of advocacy, he cautioned against relying on unverified or weak scientific claims about galamsey effects, citing reports that linked galamsey to spontaneous abortions.

“Increasing the advocacy is good, but a part of the advocacy doesn’t sound scientific to me. About the research on the spontaneous abortions caused by galamsey, that’s not scientific, with all due respect. You will have to give us details. Correlation is not necessarily causation,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Mahama is expected to meet civil society organisations (CSOs) on the illegal mining (Galamsey) to find a lasting solution to the menace today, October 3, at 12:00 noon.

Source: Clara Seshie

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Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Mines revealed that the coalition had long awaited such an invitation.

“We have been waiting for this invitation, because the coalition had written to His Excellency, the President, and he had directed that we meet with the Minister for lunch in the first instance, and he was going to meet us. And we know that the Minister had reported back to him, so we’re expecting that.”

The meeting, scheduled for Friday, October 3, at the Jubilee House, is expected to gather over 50 participants, including leading civil society groups and government officials.

Dr Ashigbey admitted the size of the gathering came as a surprise.

“The only surprise we got was the fact that over 50 or so people have been invited, you know, and so it was going to really be a very large gathering.

“And so again, the agenda is not being in the format of the meeting has not been clearly spelt out, but we will take advantage of every opportunity that is given to us to resolve this.”

He stressed that the coalition would not use the platform to repeat well-known challenges.

“Even we are not going into this meeting to go and articulate the problems. We know very clearly what the problems are, and we know His Excellency knows what the problems are.”

Instead, Dr Ashigbey said the focus would be on demanding clarity from the President on what success against galamsey would look like under his leadership.

“Like we said in our last press release that we gave, we are going to go into this meeting asking His Excellency, the President, what his definition of success is, what he would classify as having successfully executed this particular thing.”

Source: Abubakar Ibrahim

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The CSOs argue that the current SML agreement has diverted millions of Ghana Cedis into private hands without yielding sufficient benefits for the nation.

They believe ending the contract would close a significant revenue loophole and restore public trust in the country’s financial management.

The coalition includes groups such as the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), iWatch Africa, Revenue Mobilisation Africa (RMA), Third World Network-Africa (TWN-Africa), IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Centre for Extractives and Development (CEDA), Institute of Energy Security (IES), and Human Environment and Livelihoods Platform Foundation (HELP Foundation Africa).

In a letter dated 11 December, the CSOs wrote, *“Your Excellency, the Coalition stands ready to support your administration in implementing reforms that enhance transparency, accountability, and efficiency.

To this end, we respectfully present the following recommendations as critical priorities for your new administration.”* The recommendations included terminating the SML contract, which they described as a source of significant revenue loss.

The CSOs further urged the President-elect to abolish the Agyapa Royalties deal and review the Mineral Income Investment Fund (MIIF) Act, describing the agreement as a threat to Ghana’s mineral wealth and citing widespread public opposition.

Additionally, they advocated for energy sector reforms, emphasising the need to reduce political interference in State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) such as the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and Ghana Gas.

They called for measures to enhance leadership stability, operational efficiency, and address systemic issues in the energy distribution value chain to improve sector performance and profitability.

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