There is no gainsaying the fact that our sustained fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, is yielding huge dividends.

What is driving this success story is the political will by the Akufo-Addo administration to see an end to this all-devastating human activity.

No one can deny the fact that illegal mining is destroying our water bodies, farm lands and the general environment, particularly in galamsey-stricken towns and communities of the country.

In fact, when the war against galamsey was waged, many thought it will not yield any impact. We must say that we are happy with the efforts, especially put in by the government, towards ensuring that we end galamsey.

It is in the light of the above that Today wants to commend government for its activation of the second phase of the fight against galamsey with the deployment of the Operation Vanguard (OP Vanguard) to galamsey areas. We must attest that this second phase has also impacted positively in the end galamsey campaign.

No doubt the Operation Vanguard task force continues to make waves. Just this weekend, we were made to understand that three hundred and eleven (311) illegal miners have been arrested by the anti-galamsey task force since it was deployed to galamsey areas across the nation.

This was made known by the Commander of the Operation Vanguard, Col. Williams Agyapong. For their efforts so far, Operation Vanguard needs to be commended, and Today must say that they will need our unflinching support if indeed we are to win the galamsey war.

Recently, we heard that members of the Operation Vanguard were complaining about accommodation problems. We at Today want to use this medium to appeal to the central government to provide them with all the logistics they need to facilitate their operations.

It must be said that we have gotten to a point where we cannot turn back. This is why government must make sure that the needs of Operation Vanguard are attended to with a sense of urgency to enhance their work. It must be pointed out that they have embarked on a risky exercise which can claim their lives.

Therefore, we must not do things that will expose them to more harm.