Ghana cannot arrest its way out of Galamsey – A case for medium scale mining revolution

For nearly two decades, Ghana has fought an expensive and exhausting war against illegal mining. Governments have changed, task forces have been deployed, excavators have been seized, rivers have been patrolled by soldiers, and countless operations have been launched with promises to end galamsey once and for all. Yet despite the billions of cedis spent on enforcement, illegal mining continues to expand, forests continue to disappear, and rivers that once sustained farming communities have become polluted with mercury and silt.

The truth is uncomfortable but unavoidable: Ghana cannot arrest its way out of the galamsey crisis. The recent decision by the Minerals Commission to revoke more than 300 irregular small-scale mining licenses in 2026 was an important regulatory intervention. It signaled that the era of weak oversight and politically connected licensing could no longer continue.

However, while licence revocations and military operations may temporarily disrupt illegal mining activities, they do not solve the underlying problem. Enforcement removes miners from one location, but without a viable legal alternative, many simply relocate and continue mining elsewhere. If Ghana genuinely intends to win the fight against illegal mining, it must move beyond a strategy centred almost exclusively on punishment.

The country needs a new framework that combines strong enforcement with structured economic inclusion. The challenge is not simply to stop people from mining illegally; it is to make legal mining more attractive, accessible and profitable than illegal mining. The Economic Reality Cannot Be Ignored Too often, discussions about galamsey focus only on environmental destruction.

While those concerns are entirely justified, they tell only half the story. Artisanal and small-scale mining has become one of the largest employers in Ghana. It supports the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of households directly and many more indirectly through transportation, food vending, equipment maintenance, trading and other services.

In many mining communities, it represents the only reliable source of income for young people who have few alternative employment opportunities. For many rural families, illegal mining is not driven by criminal intent but by economic necessity. Where agriculture has become less profitable, industries are absent, and…