Renowned social activist and Democracy Hub convener, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has strongly opposed calls for a militarized “shoot-to-kill” policy in the fight against illegal mining (galamsey), warning that such measures would escalate violence, breed militia groups, and fail to address the root causes of the crisis.
There have been growing calls for the Mahama-led government to declare a state of emergency in order to tackle the galamsey menace head-on.
But for Mr. Vormawor, the approach, if adopted by the government, could create serious security problems for the country.
In a social media post sighted by Awake News, the activist argued that extrajudicial killings would disproportionately target vulnerable youth while sparing the financiers and elites who profit largely from the illegal mining activities.
“The people who will be killed are always the young JHS dropouts—the expendable faces at the bottom. Not the Mireku Dukers. Not the Akonta Minings,” he stated, urging authorities to focus on disrupting the supply chain of heavy machinery and exposing high-profile backers.
He further criticized the government’s lax regulation of excavator imports, comparing the oversight gap to the handling of illegal drugs.
“These machines aren’t being smuggled through bush paths. They come through our ports. Why aren’t we regulating their entry like Class A controlled substances?”, he asked
Barker-Vormawor also linked galamsey to national security threats, citing its potential as a conduit for terrorist financing.
“Leaving our mines exposed is like handing militant groups a honeycomb—sweet, undefended, and dangerously inviting,” he cautioned, while proposing for geotagging and demobilizing of excavators, plea bargains for low-level miners to expose kingpins, and stricter accountability for diaspora-backed financiers masquerading as “investors.”
