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A professor at the University for Development Studies, Professor Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno, has stated that country’s inability to stop illegal mining is due not to a lack of laws or institutions, but to the existence of a powerful “shadow state” that protects and sustains the industry.
He said the shadow state comprises political actors, economic elites, foreign financiers, and compromised state institutions, all of whom operate in a clandestine network that mimics state authority but serves private interests.
Prof Ayelazuno made the statement in Accra yesterday during the launch of a new book he co-authored titled “The State Capture in the Militarised Fight against
Illegal Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ghana.”
The book which covered the period 2017 to 2024 was jointly written with the late Dr Maxwell Akansina Aziabah, former Senior Lecturer at the Department of Community Development at the University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Wa.
He explained that illegal mining in Ghana was not merely an environmental issue but a symptom of a deeper structural malaise rooted in state capture.
“Galamsey is sustained by a complex web of political actors, economic elites, foreign financiers, and regulators, which this book describes as the shadow state,” he said.
According to him, the solution to the galamsey menace lied in dismantling this shadow state through bold political leadership, institutional reforms, and protection for civil society actors.
He warned that failure to break the hold of this covert power structure would render all anti-galamsey efforts ineffective.
Citing examples, Prof Ayelazuno pointed to the controversial Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2462, which permitted mining in forest reserves, as evidence of elite manipulation of state policy for personal gain.
He also mentioned investigative reports which exposed how some military personnel protect private mining interests rather than enforcing the law.
Prof Ayelazuno criticised the government’s failure to revoke L.I. 2462 and called for the declaration of a state of emergency in areas affected by illegal mining to trigger urgent state response.
“Our rivers, including the Pra, Offin and Ankobra, remain polluted with mercury and cyanide, posing severe health and ecological threats,” he lamented.
Prof Ayelazuno said militarised operations such as Operation Vanguard and Operation Halt had not addressed the root causes of galamsey and only reinforced the shadow state.
He urged President John Dramani Mahama to pursue a new path grounded in democratic accountability, environmental protection, and the formalisation of small-scale mining
Prof Ayelazuno expressed gratitude to the Third World Network-Africa (TWN-Africa) for sponsoring the launch of the book, adding that the explored in the book were first incubated in a position paper commissioned by TWN-Africa in 2017, which the first author wrote to inform their advocacy on the militarized fight against galamsey.
Prof Ayelazuno also paid glowing tribute to the late Dr Aziabah for the immense role he played in the writing of the book.
An Associate Professor at the University of Ghana Business, Prof Abdulai Abdul Gafaru, who reviewed the book, lauded the two authors of the book, saying it was the most comprehensive book on galamsey in the country.
