On 4 November 2026, Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Mahama Ayariga addressed the National Conference for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives on Illegal Small-Scale Mining in Kumasi. He warned that Regional Ministers and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) cannot shirk responsibility for illegal mining activities occurring under their jurisdiction.
Mr Ayariga said that public officials who witness galamsey operations but fail to intervene are contributing to the problem, even if they are not directly involved in the mining. “If you are not part of the problem, you must be part of the solution. And it is not only when you are directly, actively involved in mining that you are part of the problem. You can be part of the problem because you have seen people actively mining and you have looked the other way round,” he said.
He argued that regional ministers and MMDCEs are strategically positioned to identify and respond to illegal mining because they live and work within the communities where the activities occur. Mr Ayariga added that the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah‑Kofi Buah, should not be expected to carry the entire burden of the campaign while local authorities fail to act on developments within their administrative areas. “The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources does not sleep in our districts. His office is in Accra. There is so much that he can do to deal with the problem. But we, as MMDCEs and Regional Ministers, sleep in the districts where the action takes place, and there is so much that we can also do to fix the problem,” he stated.
He called on local government authorities to demonstrate greater commitment to monitoring mining activities and ensuring that illegal operations are not allowed to continue unchecked in their jurisdictions.
What follows is a renewed push for local leaders to take a more active role in the national effort to curb galamsey, with the government signalling that it will hold regional and district officials accountable for lapses in enforcement.
