Former Assistant Director of Legal Services, Ghana Armed Forces, Dr.
Jamal Tonzua, has said that while the illegal small-scale mining (Galamsey) crisis is purely a governance crisis, including a lack of political commitment and institutional weaknesses, political leaders have cajoled the military and set it up to fail on a matter that requires sound evidence-based transformative policy interventions.
The situation is not different from other politically-tainted matters such as the protracted Bawku inter-ethnic crisis, he said.
Regrettably, Dr Tonzua said, the political leaders are misleading and encouraging the military to use brute and lethal force in internal security operations, in a manner that is inconsistent with fundamental human rights and established military procedures including the rules of engagement and the use of force.