Galamsey fight collapsed after safeguards introduced in 2018 were abandoned – Prof Frimpong-Boateng

Prof Frimpong-Boateng said the government established 72 district committees on illegal mining, trained 3,000 small-scale miners and developed the GalamStop electronic platform to track licences and streamline permit applications.

Former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has claimed that some of Ghana’s polluted rivers began recovering following the erstwhile government’s clampdown on illegal mining between 2017 and 2018, but the safeguards introduced to sustain the gains were later abandoned.

Safeguards abandoned after mining ban The former minister said the ban was lifted conditionally on December 21, 2018, after the government established several safeguards intended to regularise small-scale mining and prevent a return to illegal operations.