2027 Budget To Capture Permanent Military Presence Along Rivers – Deputy Lands Minister

Government is planning to establish permanent military camps along selected rivers as part of measures to intensify the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

The move is aimed at maintaining a sustained security presence along vulnerable river bodies to prevent illegal miners from returning to areas after swoops.

Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Dr Yusif Sulemana, said government intends to make provision for the camps in the 2027 national budget to support the continued deployment of military personnel.

"Today, as I speak to you, we are putting permanent military men at some riverside to ensure that our young men and women who are on the river bodies mining are not able to do that," he said.

The planned deployment comes as government pushes back against criticism that its campaign against galamsey has weakened.

He rejected suggestions that the government had eased its efforts to combat illegal mining, maintaining that enforcement operations and the formalisation of small-scale mining were central to its approach.

Beyond enforcement, government is pursuing cooperative mining arrangements to provide small-scale miners with regulated alternatives to illegal operations in forest reserves and along water bodies.

Authorities are targeting the registration of close to 100 small-scale mining cooperatives by the end of 2026, alongside plans to establish gold processing centres to improve recovery rates and reduce reliance on mercury and cyanide.

Dr Sulemana outlined the measures in an interview with Channel One TV on the sidelines of the Mining in Motion Summit in Accra, citing the seizure of excavators and changfans, as well as operations to protect rivers and forest reserves, as evidence that government's anti-galamsey campaign remains active.