Executive Director of Eco-Conscious Citizens, Awula Serwah, has called on President John Dramani Mahama’s government to declare a targeted state of emergency in areas affected by illegal mining, warning that the destruction of water bodies, farmlands and forest reserves requires urgent action.

She said the government must move beyond expressing concern about galamsey and take firm steps to remove illegal miners from affected areas and prevent them from returning.

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Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Thursday, October 29, 2026, Serwah said the government could no longer afford to delay decisive action.

“The time for lamentations is over. Let's stop this illegal mining. Declare a targeted state of emergency,” she said.

She called for the removal of illegal miners from rivers, farmlands and forest reserves, followed by the deployment of response teams and the involvement of local communities to protect the affected areas.

“Go in there, remove them, remove them from our water bodies, from our farmland, from our forest reserves. And then let's station response teams close by. And then get the communities involved,” she added.

Serwah also criticised what she described as the public’s failure to put enough pressure on political leaders to end illegal mining.

She stressed that her call for greater public anger should not be mistaken for support for violence, insisting that peaceful demonstrations could help citizens demand accountability.

“We are not angry enough even to do a sit-down demonstration to say that you cannot continue poisoning us. Stop this illegal mining,” she said.

The environmental campaigner further rejected arguments that galamsey should be tolerated because it provides jobs, arguing that the financial gains associated with the activity had made it attractive to some people.

“And let's stop this idea of livelihood. It's more greed,” she said.

She warned that the destruction caused by illegal mining also threatened farmers, citing damage to shea butter plantations, oil palm farms and cocoa farms.

“In fact, over 2.5 million peasant farmers are at risk of losing their livelihoods because of the activities of the environmental terrorists,” she said.

Serwah also questioned the government's commitment to fighting galamsey, alleging that activists who sought to protect a stream in the Atruinso community had been arrested and prosecuted while the miners they opposed were allowed to go free.

She said it took two years for the charges against the activists to be dropped.

“So, we are not very serious, and we don't seem to understand that we are being poisoned,” she said.

Serwah warned that continued environmental destruction could threaten food security and public health, urging the government and citizens to treat the fight against illegal mining as a national priority.

NA/VPO