By Florence Afriyie Mensah
Kumasi, March 13, GNA – Air Vice Marshal David Anetey Akrong, the Commandant of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), has stated that illegal mining (galamsey) has evolved into a complex political and economic ecosystem in several communities.
He said illegal mining “is no longer a question of environmental degradation or licensing compliance,” but increasingly shaped who controlled land and labour, how resources were distributed, and how authority and safety were experienced within local communities.
He noted that in some districts, the persistence of illegal mining activity had contributed to the emergence of informal power structures that operated alongside, and at times in competition with formal state institutions.
Speaking at the Ashanti Regional Validation and Dialogue Workshops on Safety and Security Ecosystem of Illegal Mining in Ghana, he said over time, these dynamics could weaken trust in regulation, enforcement, and public administration and complicated the work of institutions tasked with maintaining order, protecting communities, and regulating the sector.
Air Vice Marshal Akrong acknowledged that “the complexity of the challenges we face in the Ashanti Region cannot be addressed through isolated interventions.
They require sustained collaboration among institutions, communities, traditional authorities, and development partners, guided by a shared commitment to safety, accountability, and inclusive development.”
The workshop, organised by the KAIPTC in partnership with the Embassy of Spain in Accra, brought together security actors, traditional leaders, mining and environmental regulatory bodies, health and gender actors, to hold conversations to engender national conversations on legal reform, institutional coordination, resource allocation, and long term development planning for mining.
The KAIPTC Commandant observed that, communities were navigating a difficult balance between immediate economic survival and the long term social and environmental wellbeing of their lands and water bodies.
Traditional leaders, assembly members, and community actors were often placed in challenging positions – mediating between community expectations.
The Commandant said this made accountability easily blurred, institutional coordination strained and public confidence in fairness eroded.
Another growing concern emerging from engagements in parts of the Ashanti Region was the increasing link between illegal mining and the circulation of illegal or improvised weapons in remote and contested areas.
Air Vice Marshal Akrong said the development raised serious concerns about the increasing risks for community members and frontline security personnel, while connecting local mining challenges in area to broader patterns of organised crime and illicit financial flows that extended beyond regional and even national boundaries.
Ms Isabel Ibarra Serrano de Haro, the Deputy Ambassador of Spain to Ghana and Togo, mentioned that illegal mining had evolved into a high risk, high-impact ecosystem that affected not only the environment but also safety, stability and social cohesion of communities.
She said foreign involvement had added another layer of complexity through the introduction of transnational criminal networks, illicit capital and hazardous chemicals undermining both local governance and national security.
GNA
Edited by Kwabia Owusu-Mensah/ Christabel Addo