Amid the renewed calls for drastic actions against illegal mining, widely known as galamsey, Dr. Steve Manteaw, Co-Chair of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), has urged the government to look closer to home on the African continent, insisting Tanzania offers the most practical model for Ghana.
This call comes a day after President Mahama announced that some small-scale miners are set to be taken to Australia to learn the best and practical means of conducting responsible mining from the Australian experience.
Speaking at the Minerals and Mining Convention, Dr. Manteaw dismissed the idea that Ghana must look to far-off countries like Australia for solutions.
The Tanzanian model, he explained, has adapted to current circumstances and successfully balances artisanal mining with strict regulation and community development.
By offering miners structured pathways into legality while creating sustainable alternatives, Tanzania has reduced the environmental destruction that illegal mining brings.
What makes the Tanzanian model ideal for Ghana, he explained, is that the two countries have similar social constructs and hence replicating their model in Ghana is likely to prove successful over the Australian model with a different social construct.
“I don’t think we need to go to Australia to learn. We have working models here in Africa. The Tanzania model can be adapted to our current circumstances. There’s not much difference in the social construct of Ghana and Tanzania,” he indicated.
Dr. Manteaw further argued that brute force alone will not end illegal mining. Instead, he called for a mix of resolute, decentralized regulatory enforcement, incentives to encourage formalization, and genuinely viable alternative livelihoods.
He cautioned against token livelihood projects like oil palm planting and grasscutter rearing, describing them as inadequate responses to the deep socio-economic drivers of galamsey.
“We will need resolute and decentralised regulatory enforcement, combined with incentives to encourage formalisation, and meaningful alternative livelihoods (not oil palm production and grass cutter rearing) to curb galamsey. Brute force alone will not deliver the results we seek,” he cautioned.
For Ghana, where galamsey has devastated over 60% of water bodies, displaced farmers, and destroyed forest reserves, a model very far from our realities will have slim chances of success.
Dr. Manteaw believes adopting this African-tested approach will make solutions more culturally relatable, cost-effective, and impactful.
