Joseph Osei-Owusu (Joe Wise), the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Bekwai, has once again called for a controversial approach to tackling illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey, which continues to ravage Ghana’s water bodies and forests.
During an interview on a Kumasi-based radio station, Osei-Owusu proposed a ‘shoot to kill’ policy as a drastic measure to combat the widespread illegal mining operations.
He argued that such extreme actions are necessary to address the severe environmental destruction caused by galamsey, particularly the contamination of rivers with harmful chemicals like mercury and cyanide.
Galamsey has devastated entire ecosystems, with rivers polluted and farmlands destroyed, leading to growing concerns about the long-term sustainability of the nation’s natural resources. Osei-Owusu emphasized that law enforcement should be empowered to shoot miners caught in the act, especially on water bodies, where the environmental damage has been most severe.
“You deserve to be shot if you’re mining on a water body,” he stated, recalling an incident in Dunkwa where illegal miners, upon spotting a patrol team, dived into the water to evade capture. He believes that such a policy would deter others from engaging in these illegal activities.
“You deserve to be shot if you are caught mining on a water body. There were about 15 changfans with individuals on it at Dunkwa. Immediately the patrol team bus arrived to round them all up, they dived into the water. It is difficult to get a hold of them. The best thing to do is to shoot them. The others will be deterred,” Joe Wise stressed.
