Minister-designate for Environment, Science and Technology, Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings says Ghana needs a more coordinated approach among state institutions to effectively tackle illegal mining and the growing damage it causes to the environment and human lives.

Appearing before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Thursday, August 27, she described the fight against galamsey as an “all-of-government and all-of-society imperative,” stressing that no single ministry or agency can successfully address the problem on its own.

She said closer collaboration among Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) would help streamline interventions, prevent duplication and ensure that resources are directed towards achieving common goals.

According to her, because illegal mining is largely carried out within communities and local government jurisdictions, the decentralised governance system must be fully integrated into efforts to combat the menace.

She particularly mentioned the need for closer collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which, she said, would be central to understanding the scale of the environmental damage and assessing measures already being implemented.

Ms. Agyeman-Rawlings also proposed regular reporting on anti-galamsey interventions to improve transparency and allow government to determine whether its strategies were producing the desired results.

She said, if approved, one of her immediate priorities would be to meet with ministers whose portfolios are directly linked to the illegal mining crisis.

The engagement, she explained, would help establish a unified strategy and ensure that the various institutions involved are working towards the same objective.

She added that she would also engage the EPA for a comprehensive briefing on the current state of illegal mining and the interventions already underway.

“The fight against illegal mining and the subsequent damage it does to the environment and human life are an all-of-government and all-of-society imperative. I do believe that the easiest way to address it is to have effective coordination between the Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

“Should I get the approval from this Committee and the House, I would want to sit with the relevant ministers of the various ministries that have an interest in the fight, which would range from the Lands as well as the Local Government, to ensure that we are all on the same page, to avoid the silo effect,” she added.