If we sincerely want to win war against galamsey, time to act is now without any further delay – Acting Chief Justice Baffoe-Bonnie to President Mahama
"We cannot continue to dither in September 2025 on the repeal of L.I. 2462 that has permitted mining in forest reserves. It is a good place to start, if we sincerely want to win the war against galamsey [illegal mining]. The time to act is now without any further delay", the acting Chief Justice Paul Baffoe Bonnie has said.
He was speaking at the 2025 annual bar conference of the Ghana Bar Association in Wa in the Upper West Region on Monday (Sept 15, 2025].
His address was read on his behalf by Justice Hafisata Amaleboba, a Justice of the Supreme Court, who represented him at the conference.
Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, called on political leadership to take bold and far-reaching measures to curb the illegal mining menace.
He observed that illegal mining has polluted all the water bodies in the country, destroyed forests and farmlands and displaced people from the communities.
He said the menace has gotten worse as the measures being employed to combat it “seem half-hearted and unable to curb this menace, which is a threat to the country’s survival.”
He wondered how the nation could allow a few individuals connected to power and influence in society “hold the entire nation and its future to ransom for their benefit.
“And we cannot pretend not to know them in order to bring them to justice and rather, arrest, parade and prosecute those at the lowest rungs of the activity chain.
“Considering the unspeakable death, pain, and destruction that galamsey has brought to this country, I urge political leadership to take bold and far-reaching measures to bring this menace to a long overdue end,” he said.
