Officials at the National Service Authority (NSA) circumvented mandatory validation processes for payments of allowances to national service personnel, enabling thousands of nonexistent names to be added to the payroll.
This made it easy to use the ghost names to drain the public purse of millions of Ghana cedis in allowances intended for national service personnel.
The Fourth Estate has been investigating allegations of corruption at the NSA for some months and has discovered evidence of fraudulent addition of nonexistent names, otherwise referred to as ghost names, to the list of personnel deployed annually since 2018. The inclusion of tens of thousands of fictitious names each year is done through the generation of fake student index numbers that are clandestinely created for various universities and other tertiary institutions. The index numbers that are used for the ghost names are not only fake, but most of them do not follow the patterns used by the universities and colleges whose names were used in assigning the fake index numbers to the ghost service personnel.
The Fourth Estate’s investigations show that the NSA’s system is designed to ensure rigorous verification of work attendance of service personnel before allowances are paid. This process, known as pre-approval, requires district managers and regional directors to authenticate personnel and confirm their presence at their assigned posts. This is done on monthly basis before payments are made to the personnel.
However, a source familiar with the NSA’s operations disclosed to The Fourth Estate that during the tenure of the immediate-past Director-General, Osei Assibey Antwi, certain high-level accounts operating the authority’s database manipulated the system monthly, allowing ghost personnel to be cleared before regional directors could complete verification procedures.
How the process should work
According to the sources, the NSA is mandated to ensure that only personnel who have actually worked receive allowances each month. The process begins at the workplaces of service personnel (known as user agencies) where their immediate supervisors sign a monthly duty report form confirming attendance. This form is then submitted to the NSA District Office.
“The district manager verifies that the personnel have reported to work and met the required days for payment,” the source explained. “The manager then enters the data into the NSA system, where it is reviewed by the regional internal auditor before reaching the regional director.”
The regional director works on the pre-approval process and forwards the verified list to NSA headquarters in Accra. There, the internal audit team performs additional checks before sending the list to the finance department. Once approved by finance, the list is then forwarded to the Director-General and then to the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) for final payment.
Breach of protocol
Evidence obtained by The Fourth Estate suggests that this procedure was not followed for all pre-approvals at the regional level, despite management being alerted to the irregularities.
During a virtual management meeting in May 2023, the NSA’s Western Regional Director, Okatakyie Amankwaa Afrifa, who has oversight responsibility of the Western North Region, raised concerns about the number of pre-approvals in the two regions under his supervision, hinting at possible padding of personnel numbers.
“My Western Region account always has 250 personnel already approved when I’m doing my pre-approvals, and for Western North, it’s always 993. I don’t know where that number is coming from. I want to supply you with this information to see how you can address it,” Mr. Afrifa, who is also the New Patriotic Party’s Western Regional Secretary, told the meeting, recordings of which are available to The Fourth Estate.
In response, the then Director-General, Osei Assibey Antwi acknowledged the concerns and promised to look into the matter. However, there is no evidence that any action was ever taken to address Mr. Afrifa’s concerns.
NSA’s Western regional director, Okatakyie Amankwaa Afrifa raised concerns about pre-approvals in the authority’s system for allowance payments| Photo: facebook/oktafrifa
When The Fourth Estate contacted Mr. Afrifa, the Western Regional Director of the NSS, he confirmed the irregularities. “I didn’t understand it. That’s why I raised it in our meetings,” he said. He explained that, under normal circumstances, the pre-approval stage in the system should show zero approvals before the regional director’s verification.
He said, he however, discovered that numbers were already appearing at the pre-approval stage before he completed his checks – meaning some payments had been approved without his verification and input.
“I raised it a number of times and didn’t get a response, so I just kept quiet. I thought it was because it was technical, and people didn’t understand,” he added.
When asked if the issue still persisted, Mr. Afrifa could not provide any confirmation due to inconsistencies in monthly allowance payments.
“What about 2024?” The Fourth Estate asked.
“That was last year, I think there were still some [pre-approved] numbers.”
“And 2023?”
“That was when I raised the issue.”
When The Fourth Estate requested an interview with the directors of the NSA on November 27, 2024, Mr. Assibey Antwi, said he would not be available until December 10, 2024.
Later, The Fourth Estate received a letter from the NSA stating that the institution was unable to grant interviews to The Fourth Estate because it was cooperating with the Office of the Special Prosecutor, which had opened investigations into the scandal following a petition from The Fourth Estate.
The findings from The Fourth Estate investigations raised serious questions about the integrity of the NSA’s payroll system and the potential loss of public funds through ghost names.
At the beginning of every service year, the authority announces to the public, the total number of personnel to be deployed. But behind the scenes, thousands of additional names are added through the creation of fake index numbers of universities and fake PINs for supposed service peronnel who could not take up national service in previous years.
A comparison of figures put out by the NSA to the public for each service year and what was presented to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education since 2019 reveals a systematic pattern of significantly inflated figures.
These dubious activities are happening at a time when the NSA struggles to pay thousands of genuine service personnel posted across the country on national service.
“It is disgusting that while many of us struggled to barely feed after being sent to marginalized communities in the middle of nowhere, people were riding on our presence to enrich themselves,” a former national service person, who wants to be known as Joel told The Fourth Estate. “I’m really disappointed. The most annoying part is they didn’t pay me two months of my allowance.”
In February 2022 when former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia visited the National Service Authority (NSA), its management, led by the Director-General, Osei Assibey Antwi, claimed they had implemented a digitalization process that had saved the country GHC 112 million.
Mr Antwi, the 59-year-old former Mayor of Kumasi, said the introduction of an app called ‘Metric app’, which combines facial recognition technology and identity card checks for verification and validation, had blocked the enrolment of some 14,027 potential fraudsters onto the scheme for the 2021-2022 service year.
“We had them (ghost names) on our list as potential service persons, but they ran away and could not register because the system raised red flags and weeded them out,” he boasted.
“This achievement is massive by any stretch because if we replicate this in ten institutions, we are talking of saving the country almost a billion cedis,” the NSA website quoted him as saying. “You can understand why it is so important to link the payroll with the Ghana Card which in your case has chased 14,027 people away.”
Since this development, Dr Bawumia used the case of the National Service Scheme as a classic success story of how digitalisation can prevent ghost names and enhance the fight against corruption.
However, The Fourth Estate’s months-long investigation has exposed a vastly different reality. Rather than preventing fraud, the NSS’s digital system has been co-opted to facilitate one of the country’s most brazen financial scams, where fake identities (some belonging to non-existent individuals and even 90-year-old “graduates”) regularly receive national service stipends.
Ghost names, fake index numbers and inflated personnel data
At the beginning of each service year, the NSS announces the number of personnel to be deployed. However, internal records show that thousands of additional names are added through the creation of fake index numbers and Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) linked to nonexistent students.
A comparison of NSS figures released to the public and those submitted to Parliament’s Select Committee on Education in June 2024, reveals consistent and significant inflation of personnel numbers.
The figures in the table below show that in the first year of President Nana Akufo-Addo (2017/2018), the authority announced that 91,871 personnel were eligible to be enrolled on the scheme. The data for the same year shows that in the end, 88,939 personnel were deployed, indicating that 2,932 of the eligible personnel did not enroll in the scheme that year.
Experts say this is a normal pattern since it is impossible to have all persons eligible for national service in a particular year undertaking the service.
If we are going through the advertised processes of the NSA for personnel deployment religiously, there shouldn’t be much discrepancy in the data,” Dr Peter Anti, Executive Director of Institute for Education Studies, said. “‘Normally about a range of one to three percent do not take up the positions when they are posted, and there are others who return to do their service. Therefore, it becomes very difficult to have a large discrepancy between the number that’s announced and what’s given to parliament.”
In all the subsequent years after the first year of President Akufo-Addo, the announced figures of eligible service personnel shot up by tens of thousands.
The Fourth Estate’s investigation found thousands of names assigned fake student index numbers supposedly linked to institutions such as Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University for Development Studies (UDS), University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Tamale Technical University, Valley View University (VVU) and some colleges of education.
For example, born on January 1, 1963, Abubakar Fuseni was listed in the NSS database as a graduate of UDS in the 2022/2023 service year. His index number, 591GHA-725913201-2, was flagged by UDS officials as fake. More shockingly, the 2022/2023 NSS list contained 226 other individuals named “Abubakar Fuseni,” all supposedly from UDS, and all with identical degree qualifications – Bachelor of Arts in Integrated Development Studies. On the NSS posting list for the 2022/2023 service year, 2,338 names with index numbers similar to Abubakar’s and inconsistent with what the University officially issues can be found.
Similarly, in the same 2022/2023 service year, Collins Benneh, supposedly a BA Linguistics graduate from UEW, was assigned an index number VL09T/0002/09T. However, UEW’s Acting Registrar, Wilhelmina Tete-Mensah, confirmed that “this is not a UEW index number. We do not use alphabets in our numbering.”
This pattern of issuing fraudulent index numbers extends across multiple educational institutions – private and public, with fake identities inserted into NSS postings every year over the past eight years.
80-year olds and 90-year olds “serving” asnational service personnel
Among the most bizarre discoveries was the inclusion of individuals well past retirement age in the NSS database. 93-year-old Nimatu Salifu was listed as a UDS graduate, deployed to Kpiyagi D/A Primary School in the Upper West Region in the 2022/2023 service year.
In the same service year, 91-year-old, RuthAbdulai, supposedly a Development Studies graduate from UDS, was posted to Adakura Primary School in the Upper East Region. There is also an 82-year-old Mahamadu Ali, another UDS graduate, who was posted to Anyinabrim Anglican School in Sefwi Wiawso in the Western North Region.
According to the NSA, 82-year-old Mahamadu ali was as service personnel in sefwi wiawso in the 2022/2023 service year
Fake IDs and manipulated biometric data
Despite the NSA’s claim of using the Ghana Card for biometric verification, The Fourth Estate found that multiple forms of identification, including doctored school ID cards, Ghana National Fire Service ID cards, provisional voter ID cards, and even private company ID cards, were used to register fake personnel.
For example, a supposed student ID card from Bagabaga College of Education in Tamale, bearing the name Nnifant Joel Sateen was used to register at least two different people. First, it was used to register Iddrisu Fatima, 34, a purported KNUST graduate. Again, the same ID card was used to register 34-year-old Iddrisu Zakaria supposedly from KNUST who was posted to Sakogu Senior High School in East Mamprusi District in the North East region in the 2022/2023 service year.
Alhassan Salamatu, 44, a supposed UCC graduate, registered using a Ghana National Fire Service ID card bearing the name of Ophilia Akolgo, 41, who joined the Service in 2016.
Kwame Donkor, 72, was registered without any ID card. In place of an ID card, a photo was used. When The Fourth Estate run a reverse image search, it was revealed the photo was a certain Emmanuel Mutio, a Human Resource Manager of a private IT company in Kenya.
NSA’s legal attempts to suppress publication
When The Fourth Estate requested an interview with the Directors of the NSA on November 27, 2024, the Director-General, Osei Assibey Antwi, said he would not be available until December 10, 2024. The NSA also said it would need more time to respond to an RTI request for data it had earlier shared with parliament.
Upon learning of The Fourth Estate’s impending publication of its investigations, the NSA took a legal action to block the publication of the report. On December 2, 2024, a day before the scheduled publication, the NSA secured a 10-day injunction to prevent the story from been published. When that injunction expired, they sought another, arguing that publication without their response would cause “irreparable harm.”
However, on December 19, 2024, an Accra High Court struck down the NSA’s injunction request, after The Fourth Estate’s lawyers described the NSA’s legal manouvres as a SLAPP lawsuit (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) intended to silence investigative journalism. The court awarded costs of GHS6,000 against the NSA in favor of the Media Foundation for West Africa, which runs The Fourth Estate as a non-profit, public interest and accountability investigative journalism project.
A digital ruse that stole millions
Rather than eliminating ghost names, digitalization at the NSS has been used as a cover for one of the most sophisticated financial scams in Ghana’s public service. The scheme has resulted in financial losses to the country amounting to millions of cedis while allowing fraudulent actors to exploit a system designed to ensure transparency.
With the NSS refusing to release additional data under the Right to Information Act, The Fourth Estate has now filed an appeal with the RTI Commission to force disclosure of further records.
Part two of this story will reveal how the NSS bypassed systems monthly to pre-approve ghosts names who are paid monthly
Companies owned by individuals with political connections and some entrepreneurs have concessions near heavily mined riverbanks despite former President Akufo-Addo’s directives that mining companies maintain a 100-meter distance from water bodies.
The Fourth Estate’s investigations show that these companies lack permits from regulatory authorities including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Water Resources Commission. Yet, destructive mining activities have been carried out on their concessions, severely affecting the Tano and Ankobra rivers.
Among the companies with mining leases that affect water bodies, two—Cape North Limited and Tera Nayo Limited— stand out because of their links to the son of the third most powerful person in the Jubilee House during the Akufo-Addo administration –the Chief of Staff, Frema Osei Opare.
The Minerals Commission database shows that the two companies have two active mining leases that are valid for ten years.
The former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, granted the leases for the two companies on March 15, 2023.
The two companies’ leases are part of several others that Mr Jinapor approved that straddle rivers, contradicting his own directives and environmental regulations which stipulate that there should be no mining within 100 metres of any river or water body.
Portions of Cape North Limited’s concession overlap the Ankobra River. The Ankobra River is rich in minerals, especially gold, which has led to mining activities within and around its banks. Some of these activities, including illegal mining, have contributed to its pollution.
Tera Nayo’s concession also stretches across two water bodies, the Tano River and the Amumeri Stream.
The Tano River originates in the Ahafo Region and empties into the Aby Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean near the Ghana-Côte d’Ivoire border. The river is essential for both agricultural production and local livelihoods, providing water for irrigation, fishing, and other uses.
The Fourth Estate’s searches at the Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) indicated that Cape North and Tera Nayo are both owned by one man – Nana Osei Opare, who is a co-director with Maataa Opare.
Former Chief of Staff, Frema Osei-Opare and her children, Maata Osei Opare (left) who is a director of multiple mining companies her brother, Nana Osei-Opare owns
Nana Osei and Maata are both children of Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, President Akufo-Addo’s Chief of Staff for eight years.
Satellite imagery shows that Cape North’s concession has been heavily mined in a way that affects the ecology of the Ankobra River.
The situation on the banks of the Tano where Tera Nayo’s concession is located is no different.
Nana Osei-Opare owns two other mining companies, Optec Limited and Mech Resources Limited. His sister, Maataa Opare, and another person, Nana Yaa Serwaa Opare, serve as co-directors with him in the companies.
The former Chief of Staff and her son
Optec Limited is an offshoot of an information technology company where Mr Osei-Opare is the CEO/Founder and Maata Opare is the legal manager.
Together, their four companies, have applied for 23 mining and prospecting licenses. Five leases have been granted from these applications.
Three of these companies have Francis Owusu-Akyaw, the MP for Juaben in the Ashanti Region, as their consultant. Mr. Akyaw alone has provided consultancy services for at least 18 companies, all of them mining in forest reserves or near water bodies.
A former Chief Executive of the Minerals Commission, Tony Aubyn, tells The Fourth Estate that when mining concessions are granted across water bodies “it means you can mine in the river itself.”
“I know that in my time some applications were rejected because they straddled a major river,” Mr Aubyn says.
“The one that I am recalling was on the Pra River. The demarcation was across the Pra River, so we declined it and then we asked the applicant if he is so minded, he could have two concessions, one at the east side and one at the west side,” He adds.
Under the regulations of LI 2173 and environmental standards set by the EPA, mining activities are generally restricted near water bodies. The Minerals Commission and Water Resources Commission require a buffer distance of at least 100 meters from major rivers and other water bodies to protect natural resources and prevent pollution.
Apart from Mr Osei-Opare’s two companies, other companies have mining concessions that cut across major rivers whose banks have been decimated by mining.
For example, Zogok Gold and Construction Limited is a mining company with a concession that stretches across the Ankobra River. There is extensive damage along the banks of the river that runs through the concession. This company has two beneficial owners—Thomas Amewu-Duglu, the General Manager of Volta Forest Products. Mr. Amewu-Deglu is the brother of the former minister of Railways Development, John-Peter Amewu, who was Lands and Natural Resources Minister from January 2017 to August 2018. Multiple media reports described Mr Amewu-Duglu’s partner, Victor Gadri, as a businessman, small-scale miner, and philanthropist.
Zogok Gold and Construction Limited applied for the concession in September 2023 and was given the green light to mine from November 1, 2024, for 30 years.
In addition to this concession located at Dompim in the Western Region, Zogok also has another active mining lease in the Western Region which was granted in 2021 for mining for 12 years. The company applied for this concession in 2015, but it was only approved days after Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor, visited Hohoe in the Volta Region on December 13, 2021. Coincidentally, he visited the VFP, where Mr Amewu-Duglu was a General Manager. Ten days later, the company was issued a mining lease.
Former Railway minister John-Peter Amewu(Left) and his brother Thomas Amewu-Duglu, Manager of Volta Forest Products(Right) during the former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Jinapor’s tour of the Volta Region in 2021
Another mining company, Berksgold, incorporated in February 2019, has a small-scale mining concession near Manso Nkwanta in the Ashanti Region. The company’s five-year mining lease was granted in July 2022.
Three other companies, K. Kukom Ventures, White Pearl Enterprise Limited, and Open Job have also been granted mining licenses extending across water bodies in areas heavily devastated by illegal mining.
Satelite imagery showing the damage on the concession
Section 18 of the Minerals and Mining Act stipulates that before a company undertakes a mining activity, it “shall obtain the necessary approvals and permits from the Forestry Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency for the protection of natural resources, public health, and the environment.”
However, data obtained from the EPA shows that none of the companies mentioned in this story has an environmental permit to either prospect or mine for precious minerals in Ghana.
The Minerals Commission has refused to respond to The Fourth Estate’s request for information on mining operating permits it has issued from 2020-2024.
Companies’ responses
In an interview with The Fourth Estate, Nana Osei-Opare, the former Chief of Staff’s son, distanced himself from the extensive mining operations on his companies’ concessions. He blames it all on illegal miners and insists he does not know what is going on. He claims forcefully that the issue has been reported to the relevant authorities.
“It first came to our notice in maybe 2020 and we’ve been fighting,” he insists. “We have written to the Minerals Commission, Operation Galamstop [a joint police-military operation to fight illegal mining], the police. It just can’t be contained,” he claims.
Mr Osei-Opare says his companies don’t own a single excavator or chanfang— a crude piece of Chinese machinery used for mining on water bodies—nor have they ever rented one.
“Any machine there can be burnt,” he said, insisting that “we stayed away from that game [galamsey] because that is not a game we want to play,” he insists.
Satelite imagery showing the damage on the concession
He provided a copy of a letter one of his companies, Tera Nayo Limited, sent to the Minerals Commission in 2021 complaining about how illegal miners had taken over his company’s concession. However, he did not provide any evidence of a similar complaint about Cape North’s concession, the most ravaged among his companies’ concessions.
Mr Osei-Opare says none of his four companies has started mining yet, claiming that Cape North and Tera Nayo will start mining in November 2025. He says they have both been undertaking exploration activities.
Although he tells The Fourth Estate that his companies have “concluded” their exploration activities, they are yet to obtain permits from the EPA.
When asked why they do not have EPA permits, he said obtaining permits for exploration “depends on what type of exploration” a company is engaged in.
“We are not drilling,” he says, claiming his companies are only engaged in soil sampling. “You don’t need an EPA permit [for that]. From what the [geologists] have informed me, you don’t necessarily need that. What you need the EPA for, is for drilling.”
Mr Amewu-Duglu, a director of Zogok Gold and Construction insists in an interview with The Fourth Estate that he does not know about any gold mining concessions as the company had been dormant for a while.
“I know the company exists but I don’t know about any gold mining work you’re talking about,” he says.
He directed The Fourth Estate to Mr Victor Gadri, who is also listed as a director and beneficial owner of the company.
When we asked Mr Gadri if the company had all the regulatory permits, his response was “I have all my permits.”
He claims his detractors have given The Fourth Estate false information about him.
Although the river bank on his concession appeared damaged, he insists he had nothing to do with it.
Mr Gadri says the company was only drilling and not mining and those parts of the concession were damaged before the company’s mining lease was granted.
When The Fourth Estate pointed to him that Mr Amewu-Duglu is one of the directors and beneficial owners of the company, his response was: “Are you sure? You’re getting everything wrong.”
“When you registered the company at the Registrar General, which names did you use as directors and beneficial owners” we asked him.
“He is not part of it,” he responded.
“His name is there. How is he not part of it?”
“Zogok is not for only gold. We do construction, oil, and other things. Maybe his name is in another business.”
Mr. Gadri subsequently requested an interview in his office the next day, only to say he was “in a meeting in town and would call later” when we called him at the scheduled time. He is yet to return our call.
The former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources did not respond to The Fourth Estate’s request for an interview.
You must report – WACAM
Kwaku Afari, the Technical Director of WACAM, an environmental NGO, rejects Mr Osei-Opare’s claim that he is not responsible for the active mining on his concession. He noted that once a company acquires a mining lease and fulfills all its financial obligations to land owners, it becomes the responsibility of the company to protect its concessions. He says when there is evidence of mining on a concession of a company that has been granted a prospecting lease, then the company has broken the law.
“A prospecting [license] is not a mining lease where you should find big holes being dug,” he explains.
Mr Afari says it is inexcusable for a company to say it is not responsible for mining activity on its concessions.
The onus lies on you to report to the necessary authorities, which is the Minerals Commission and the security agencies. [If] there are illegal operators on your land, you are supposed to act,” he says. “You are also supposed to protect your concession. Whatever property that you have, by law, if you look at Article 18 [of the Constitution] everyone has the right to protect his property.”
He says it is even more important “if your property or whatever is due you is being used to perpetrate illegality and you more or less are silent on it, then that means it is either you are benefiting to some extent or you think it is of some importance to you.”
He points to the need for adherence with Section 17 of the Minerals and Mining Act which requires mining leaseholders to obtain a permit from the Water Resources Commission as a pre-requisite for diverting, impounding, conveying, and using water from a river, stream, underground reservoir, or watercourse.
The EPA’s Mining Director, Mr Sandow Ali, agrees. He tells The Fourth Estate that at any stage of exploration, a company needs an EPA permit. He mentions four permits that a company must have: a license from the minister, an EPA permit, an operating permit from the Minerals Commission, and a water use permit from the Water Resources Commission.
“Just the license alone does not give you the permission to go and start working. If you pick the license alone and start working, it is illegal,” he says.
None of the four companies owned by Mr OseiOpare were on the list of companies that have obtained water use permits.
But Mr Ali emphasizes that “for exploration, you use a lot of water, so you need a water use permit from the Water Resources Commission.”
The Minerals Commission’s Chief Executive, Martin Ayisi, insists in an interview that the fact that a company has been granted a concession across a water body does not mean that it is allowed to mine in the water body.
He did not respond to The Fourth Estate’s subsequent questions on the specific cases found. He failed to pick up calls and did not respond to an email, although he requested the specific cases. He did not respond to a letter delivered to his office as well as WhatsApp and text messages.
A Rocha Ghana, an environmental conservation organization, has criticised the government for giving out mining concessions that straddle water bodies even after it had banned mining close to these areas.
“The Minerals Commission has given out several licenses in 2022 and 2023 that straddle critical water bodies, including at the exact locations already decimated by galamsey,” the Operations Director of A Rocha Ghana, Daryl Bosu, tells The Fourth Estate.
“It is incomprehensible why the Minerals Commission is issuing licenses alongside and across rivers when the devastation of mining is now so clear. That these licenses are for precise locations already decimated by galamsey is even more disturbing.
The communities are suffering greatly from the pollution of their water sources and farmlands, which is already affecting their health, including kidney problems. Mining leases across and adjacent to rivers do not meet the President’s red zone directive.”
In an interview with The Fourth Estate, the Director of Operations at the EPA, Mr Ransford Sekyi, insists that although some concessions have rivers and streams in them, such water bodies are protected. However, coordinates provided by the Minerals Commission covering concessions along the water bodies do not show compliance with the regulations.
Let’s get it clear. There’s no doubt that there are streams or rivers within concessions. There are, but there is no stream that is being mined or a river [that is being mined] like that,” he says.
Mr Sekyi, however, concedes that “as a matter of caution, it’s better not to award mining concessions that straddle river bodies.”
The Fourth Estate contacted the Founder of Perez Chapel, Bishop Charles Agyinsare, to facilitate a meeting with Lighthouse Chapel International (LCI) to address allegations of exploitation and abuse raised against the church by six of its former pastors, but the church declined the request.
The former Editor-in-Chief of The Fourth Estate, Manasseh Azure Awuni, told an Accra High Court in an ongoing defamation suit against the news portal that this compelled The Fourth Estate to proceed with its series of stories about the pastors’ allegations without the church’s reaction.
“One side[pastors] made an allegation and the only way to have gotten verification from the other side [the church] would have been to speak to the church, but the church refused to cooperate with us,” Mr Awuni told the court during cross-examination via video conferencing.
“It is worth noting that even before we wrote the letter to the church, we had information that the church wasn’t going to cooperate with us or give us any information. That was why we decided to reach out to Bishop Agyinsare. So even before we wrote a letter, we had used [Bishop] Agyinasare as an intermediary and had been told that the church would not cooperate with us. We took these steps because of the possibility of factual inaccuracies on the part of one side of the parties in the matter.”
Mr. Awuni’s response was to claims made by the lawyer of Lighthouse Chapel International (LCI), Kwaku Paintsil, that Mr. Awuni, as a journalist, failed to verify statements made by Seth Duncan, one of the former LCI pastors who sued the church. Mr Duncan claimed to have suffered losses, including losing a school he built and the breakdown of his marriage.
However, the LCI lawyer claimed that the information was not true as Mr Duncan’s marriage was still intact. Mr. Awuni in response stated that he had no reason to doubt the former LCI pastor.
Background
Six former ministers of the church sued the church in April 2022 for non-payment of their pension contributions, economic exploitation, and emotional abuse.
The church counter-sued the pastors and accused them of causing The Fourth Estate to publish “sensational” allegations even before and after they came to court to sue the church.
The church also sued The Fourth Estate for defamation, claiming among things that the publications sought to suggest that the church was “not only intolerant but extremely callous, insensitive, inconsiderate and cold-hearted in its treatment of and abandonment of its volunteers and employees with exacting demands calculated to house them out of their posts.”
For relief, it wants The Fourth Estate to apologise for the stories and also pull them down.
Those stories also contain the former pastors’ accounts of the sacrifices they made in establishing churches they were allegedly forced to abandon because of a church policy.
The LCI and The Fourth Estate have been in court since December 2021.
Verification of allegations
During the hearing last Thursday, the church’s lawyer, Mr Paintsil sought to suggest that even when the church failed to respond to The Fourth Estate letter requesting information, Mr Awuni could have gone on the ground to verify the information from the school’s administration.
However, Mr Awuni disagreed.
My lord, there was an attempt to verify [Seth Duncan’s claim] from the most credible source in this matter, which is the employer of the pastor against whom the allegation was made. Any other source would not have been complete until the party [against] whom the allegation was made was contacted,” Mr Awuni explained
The LCI lawyer also insisted that the issues around Mr Duncan’s loss of investment and his broken marriage published by The Fourth Estate were not in the former pastor’s suit against the church and also missing from the letter The Fourth Estate wrote to the church requesting its side of the story.
“I put it to you that those two allegations were your invention,” the lawyer said, looking sternly at the video conferencing screen.
However, Mr Awuni shot down the claim. He insisted that The Fourth Estate did not rely only on documents flowing from Mr Duncan’s suit against the church.
“My lord, the said pastor mentioned that he personally raised funds to assist in establishing the church. But as I’ve said, we didn’t solely rely on the court document. We interviewed them, and even the plaintiff [the church] didn’t speak to us, but we quoted some of its responses to the issues through third-party sources.”
During the hearing on November 13, 2024, the LCI lawyer claimed that the church responded to The Fourth Estate’s request for information that it would “defer to a determination by the Court.”
Again, Mr Awuni disagreed.
“That is not accurate. The Plaintiff Church did not respond to our request for information I think the Plaintiff’s Witness gave reasons to that effect. Besides, our letter to the Plaintiff’s church was written more than a month before the suits were filed,” he explained.
Meanwhile, a bishop of the Lighthouse Chapel International, Bishop Marcel Aboagye, admitted to the court on January 10, 2023, that the church “refused” to respond to a letter The Fourth Estate wrote for a response before publishing the “Darkness in the Lighthouse” series
“We suspected there was collusion between the former pastors, Kofi Bentil and the defendants [The Fourth Estate]. We thought a response to the letter would mean giving away the potential defense to an imminent suit,” he told the court.
Civil society organisations are urging the government not only to pledge the revocation of the law regulating mining in forest reserves but also to cancel all mining leases granted under LI 2462.
They argue that such actions would demonstrate the government’s genuine commitment to environmental protection, rather than simply yielding to pressure from labour unions and environmental civil society groups.
The Operations Director of A Rocha, Ghana, Daryl Bosu, and Convenor of the Media Coalition Against Illegal Mining, Ken Ashigbey, say while the government’s decision to repeal the law is a welcomed one, there are still pertinent issues that remain unaddressed.
Their demands come on the back of the government’s recent announcement that it plans to revoke the law regulating mining in forest reserves, LI 2462, when Parliament reconvenes this month.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Information, this decision follows a meeting between President Nana Akufo-Addo and organised labour, which had threatened industrial action if the government failed to take drastic steps, including declaring a state of emergency and repealing LI 2462.
The labour unions’ anger was triggered by an investigation by The Fourth Estate, which revealed that as of August 13, 2024, at least 25 companies had submitted 32 applications to mine and prospect in 24 forest reserves. Ten of these mining leases had already been granted by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, while 22 others were still awaiting approval. Four of these leases are located in Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas.
A Rocha Ghana’s response
Responding to the government’s decision, Daryl Bosu, Director of Operations at A Rocha Ghana, expressed the environmental civil society organization’s approval of the decision to repeal the law but emphasised that this action must also include the termination of all mining leases granted under it.
“We are happy to hear that the campaign for the revocation of the LI 2462 is now bearing fruit, but why has it taken the government almost two years? It only took the pressure of organized labour and other groups to force the government into action,” he said. It is unfortunate. Without the pressure, the government would not have taken any action. That, in itself, is a dent in the credibility of the government when they say they are committed to sustainable forest management.”
He further noted that it is troubling the government did not recognize the governance flaw in enacting LI 2462 in the first place.
“That is a problem we need to fix. The mindset of sustainability is not strong enough. We need to fix that among our leaders,” he added.
Figures from the Forestry Commission SHOWS THAT at least 30 forest reserves have been destroyed by illegal miners
A Rocha Ghana is currently in court seeking a restraining order to prevent all companies granted leases under the law from mining. Mr Bosu stated that even if the law is repealed, A Rocha Ghana would continue to pursue the case until a final decision is made.
Mr Ken Ashigbey, who is a party to the suit, told The Fourth Estate that all the permits issued under the law must not be allowed to stand.
“Beyond the revocation, the President would have to take steps to revoke all the licenses issued under the law,” he said. “It is a critical conversation we must have. If they claim that they have revoked the LI, then the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] should not be approving applications for permits that are before them.”
He said the government’s statement on what it intended to do had no timelines but noted that it was encouraging that actions were being taken including the burning of chanfans—a crude machinery of Chinese origin used in mining in water bodies.
“I am only hoping that they would pull the chanfans out of the water and take them away because if you burn them and the base remains, they would come and rebuild them,” he said.
Who owns the concessions?
Among those granted leases in forest reserves are companies owned by prominent political figures such as Sam Pyne, the Mayor of Kumasi; Emmanuel Boakye, District Chief Executive of Wassa East, who co-owns a company with the deputy regional women’s organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP); and Francis Owusu-Akyaw, the NPP parliamentary candidate for Juaben. Bernard Antwi Boasiako, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, has not yet had his company’s lease approved, but Akonta Mining Limited, owned by Mr Boasiako, was involved in illegal mining activities in the Apramprama Forest Reserve, according to the Minerals Commission.
These revelations, along with other media reports, heightened tensions among organized labour, which demanded stronger government action against illegal mining in forest reserves and water bodies.
“Organized labour demands the immediate revocation and withdrawal of all licenses granted for prospecting and mining in forest and protected reserves, as well as around water bodies,” a joint statement from labour unions declared.
They also called for the declaration of a state of emergency, with a direct order from President Akufo-Addo to halt all mining activities, both legal and illegal, in these sensitive areas. Additionally, they demanded the removal of all mining equipment from these locations and the deployment of military and police forces to dismantle any machinery used for mining.
The unions also pushed for the creation of a special court to prosecute individuals involved in illegal mining, which has become a significant public health issue. They set a deadline of the end of September 2024 for the government to address their concerns, threatening labour unrest if action was not taken.
In response, the Minister of Information issued a statement, after the meeting with the labour unions, noting, “The Attorney-General will collaborate with the Chief Justice to ensure swift adjudication of illegal mining cases.” The government also agreed to labour’s request that all presidential candidates in the 2024 elections sign a pact committing to the fight against illegal mining in order to depoliticize the issue.
Despite this, with the government failing to meet the unions’ ultimatum, organized labour declared a strike for October 10, 2024. However, the government expressed surprise at the decision, stating, “The government is surprised by the decision of Organized Labour to proceed on industrial action from 10th October, 2024. The government will, however, continue to engage Organized Labour and other stakeholders in constructive dialogue to find solutions to this national problem.”
The statement reiterated the government’s commitment to combating illegal small-scale mining and called on all stakeholders to join the fight. Subsequently, the labour unions called off the strike.
Thousands of Ghanaians in recent times have been on the street calling for an end to illegal mining that has destroyed the country’s forests and water bodies. At least 52 protesters have been arrested, detained, and charged for offenses including disturbing public peace and stealing. Some have since been released on bail.
Ghanaians are protesting against the illegal mining activities that are devastating forests and water bodies.
In the meantime, the government has reportedly deployed over 100 military officers to remove illegal miners from water bodies and forest reserves. Media reports indicate that these efforts are being coordinated with the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners. On Thursday, the team was active in the Eastern Region as part of the intensified anti-illegal mining operations. Multiple reports state that 18 chanfan machines used for gold extraction along the Birim River were seized and dismantled by the soldiers.
The activities of illegal miners, known as “galamseyers,” continue to pollute the country’s rivers, leading the Ghana Water Company to spend more resources on water treatment. Several cities and rural communities, including Cape Coast, are facing water shortages. Data from the Forestry Commission shows that at least 34 forest reserves have been compromised by illegal mining activities with 5,000 hectares of forest cover destroyed.
Six civil society organisations and an individual have filed a lawsuit at the Accra High Court seeking to stop persons or companies that have been granted licenses to mine in forest reserves in Ghana under the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations, 2022 (L.I. 2462).
They want to prevent these companies from mining before the court decides on their substantive case, which is an order for the revocation of LI 2462—the law regulating mining in forest reserves.
The suit seeks for “an order restraining any person or entity, to whom mineral rights, licences, or leases and or environmental permits have been issued by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Defendants/Respondents for the undertaking of mining activities in forest reserves, from undertaking any such activities, pending the final determination of the substantive suit.”
The defendants include the Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, the Minerals Commission, the Speaker of Parliament, and the Attorney-General.
Their suit follows an investigation by The Fourth Estate that revealed the identities of officials of the incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) and government appointees who are scrambling for mining licences in Ghana’s forest reserves. The owners of some of the companies that have obtained these licences include the mayor of Ghana’s second biggest city, Kumasi, Sam Pyne and a Parliamentary Candidate for the NPP in Juaben, Francis Owusu-Akyaw.
The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, the District Chief Executive of Wassa East, Emmanuel Boakye, and the NPP’s Women’s Organizer in the Western Region, Angela Bint Ntaama, including a presidential staffer, Harriet Kyeremanteng, all have companies whose licences are waiting ministerial approval to mine in forest reserves.
The Fourth Estate’s investigations revealed that since 2023 at least 10 companies have been granted mining leases to mine in 11 mining forest reserves. Four of the companies are to operate in globally significant biodiversity areas.
Regulation 3(2) of LI 2462 gives the President the discretion to approve mining activities in globally significant biodiversity areas. The CSOs want this power curtailed while they argue for the annulment of the LI in court.
The law was passed in November 2022 and has since seen a sharp increase in mining applications in mining forest reserves.
According to the suit, LI 2462 is not only inconsistent with the Forests Act, 1927 (CAP 157), the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), the National Land Policy, the Forest and Wildlife Policy, the Forestry Development Master Plan, but it also contravenes the 1992 Constitution.
Ghana’s Land Policy states that “lands declared as forest reserves, strict nature reserves, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and similar land categories constitute Ghana’s permanent forest and wildlife estates, and are fully protected for ecosystem maintenance, biodiversity conservation and sustainable timber production…. Land categories outside Ghana’s permanent forest and wildlife estates are available for such uses as agriculture, timber, mining and other extractive industries, and human settlement within the context of a national land use plan.”
The Forestry Development Master Plan targets total elimination of mining and prospecting in Ghana’s forest reserves by 2036.
Article 36 (9) of the 1992 Constitution states that “the State shall take appropriate measures needed to protect and safeguard the national environment for posterity; and shall seek cooperation with other states and bodies for purposes of protecting the wider international environment for mankind.”
In their substantive case, the plaintiffs are asking the Court to declare LI 2462 as null and void not only because of its negative ramifications.
They also say that the laying of the LI in Parliament breached the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921). Section 100 of the Act requires that a fiscal impact analysis is carried out before a law is laid in Parliament.
Through a right to information request, the plaintiffs asked Parliament to confirm whether or not a fiscal impact analysis accompanied the LI. Parliament responded that the fiscal impact analysis had not been carried out.
Based on this and other factors, the environmentalists are praying the Court for “a declaration that any legislation or proposal which is laid before Parliament that is not accompanied by a fiscal impact analysis contrary to section 100 of the Public Financial Management Act is null and void.”
Many environmental groups have not hidden their concerns about the grave impact LI 2462 would have on the country’s forest estate since it was passed in November 2022.
In a recent statement, the Ghana Institute of Foresters said although the LI appears to be seeking to protect the country’s forests, it has rather “has opened the floodgates for institutionalized mining in our forest reserves.”
The umbrella body for forestry experts said it was “completely left in the dark” throughout the processes that led to the passage of LI 2462.
The GIF indicated that it was shocked when they learnt about the passage of the LI.
This is because, according to the body, the LI 2462 “legally permits unlimited mining in forest reserves. Not even the ecologically sensitive Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas have been spared.”
Before LI 2462, an administrative framework for mining called the Environmental Guideline for Mining in Production Forest Reserves permitted limited mining of not more than 2% of timber production reserves.
To give the guideline the legal teeth to bite its offenders, stakeholders called for a total ban on mining in forest reserves and the enactment of a law to protect these reserves.
However, LI 2462, which was supposed to fill this gap, appears to have incentivised some government appointees to apply for license to mine in Ghana’s forest reserves.
The Fourth Estate’s investigations revealed that as of August 13, 2024, at least 25 companies had filed 32 applications to mine and prospect in 24 forest reserves. Ten of these mining leases have been granted by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, with 22 others awaiting approval. Four of these leases are in GSBAs.
As result, the CSOs, in their substantive case, are praying the Court to order the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Minerals Commission “from issuing any mineral rights, licences or leases for the undertaking of mining activities, including reconnaissance or prospecting activities in a forest reserve.”
The plaintiffs are also requesting an order to prevent all persons who have received mining permits from the regulatory bodies under LI 2462 from operating a mine in a forest reserve.
“An order restraining all persons to whom mineral rights, licences or leases have been issued by the 3rd and 4th Defendants for the undertaking of mining activities in a forest reserve from undertaking any mining activities allowed by the mineral rights, licences or leases,” according to the plaintiff’s writ of summons.
The investigations revealed that scholarships meant to support academically gifted but financially disadvantaged students were often dished out to individuals with strong political ties, including people from wealth and well-off families. The Fourth Estate also found that some of the beneficiaries received multiple scholarships while many deserving students were overlooked.
NDC’s pledge
In its manifesto launched on August 24, 2024, the NDC promised to overhaul the current scholarship regime. The party has committed to introducing legislation that will regulate the granting of government scholarships, specifically prohibiting political appointees from benefitting. The country’s largest opposition party said this will form part of its broader strategy to restore good governance, combat corruption and transform the education sector.
The NDC’s plan goes further, aiming to “align scholarships with national development policies, eliminate political patronage, corruption, cronyism, and nepotism in the award of government scholarships.”
In what seemed like a jab at the current administration, the party emphasises that it will ensure that government scholarships are reserved for the vulnerable and marginalised and awarded in line with the principles of meritocracy, equity and inclusivity.
Former President and flagbearer of the NDC, John Dramani Mahama, committed to exempting government appointees and politically connected individuals from benefitting from national scholarship programmes.
Persons with conflicts of interest will not be allowed to apply for scholarships,” Mr Mahama said. “I will not apply for scholarships for my children, none of my ministers will do it. Any political appointee must not apply for scholarships, you must pay for yourself. Leave the scholarships for the children of the underprivileged, those who cannot afford it are the ones who must get the scholarships.”
NPP’s Commitment
While the NPP manifesto avoided speaking about how it intended to address issues of the rich, political elite, and their associates benefiting from national scholarships, it promised to ensure transparency in the scholarship scheme. The ruling party’s manifesto highlights its commitment to publishing the full list of scholarship beneficiaries annually.
With the country’s scholarship schemes and student financing schemes currently scattered across multiple agencies, including the Student Loans Trust Fund (SLTF), Scholarship Secretariat, GETFund, and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Scholarship Scheme, the NPP promises to “integrate scholarship databases across all the public sector institutions managing such schemes, to ensure full visibility.”
During a recent media engagement, the NPP flagbearer and Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, reaffirmed the party’s dedication to ensuring transparency and efficiency in the administration of public scholarship schemes.
Background
The investigation by The Fourth Estate were based on analyses of data obtained from the Scholarships Secretariat through a Right to Information request. It uncovered how the Scholarship Secretariat had been awarding scholarships meant for underprivileged but brilliant students to the well-connected and affluent.
Among the notable beneficiaries identified were Dr Dennis Addo, the founder of the Claron Hospital and a member of the New Patriotic Party; Lucie Ekeleba Blay, daughter of Freddie Blay, Board Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and former National Chairman of the NPP; Gifty Oware-Mensah, the Deputy Director of the National Service Secretariat and Nana Adubea Asante-Apeatu, the daughter of a former Inspector-General of Police, David Asante-Apeatu.
The former Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo as well as the Executive Director of the Institute of Education Studies, Dr Peter Anti, urged Parliament to enact a law to streamline the Secretariat’s operations to promote equity and transparency in the administration of scholarships.
The Minority Caucus in Parliament echoed these demands calling for the immediate interdiction of the Registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat, Dr Kingsley Agyemang.
The opposition Members of Parliament also urged the Special Prosecutor to conduct a forensic audit of all scholarships awarded since January 2017.
The Fourth Estate’s investigations revealed that at least 17 individuals received multiple scholarships which allowed them to pursue different programmes in two consecutive years or different programmes in a single year.
This means while some needy students struggled to secure funding for a single programme, others received scholarships covering two different programmes.
Eleven individuals received multiple scholarships in consecutive years (2019 and 2020), while six others were granted two different scholarships within the same year, either in different countries or in the same country. Amounts awarded ranged from GBP 13,250 to GBP 55,000 per school, covering tuition and living expenses.
Following these revelations, Osman Ayariga, Deputy National Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress, petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate the Registrar of the Scholarships Secretariat for misconduct.
The Fourth Estate has filed a Right to Information request to the Presidency requesting information on the full list of companies that President Nana Akufo-Addo has written to, to undertake mining in forest reserves designated as Globally Significant Biodiversity areas (GSBAs).
The Fourth Estate has also requested copies of the letters the President wrote to the mining companies as required under Regulation 3(2) of Legislative Instrument (LI 2462)—the law regulating mining in forest reserves.
The law prohibits mining in some forest reserves but makes exceptions for mining in GSBAs on condition that the President “may subject to Article 268 of the Constitution, give approval in writing to a mining company to undertake mining in a globally significant biodiversity area in the national interest.”
Article 268 requires that all mining licenses receive parliamentary ratification.
In an ongoing investigation into mining leases granted in the country’s forest reserves, The Fourth Estate found that despite Ghana’s international commitment to protect GSBAs, at least four companies have been granted mining leases in these forest reserves, spanning between six to 30 years in four of these critical reserves.
These forest reserves— Boin Tano, Draw River, Neung South, and Tano Anhwia forest reserves –all in the Western Region— provide essential services including air and water purification, pollination, climate regulation, and carbon sequestration.
Until November 2022, these reserves were shielded from productive activities including mining, timber harvesting and farming.
However, that changed after the government enacted the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulation (LI 2462) two years ago, triggering a scramble for mining leases in the country’s forest reserves.
The Fourth Estate asked for evidence of presidential consent which allowed these mining companies to receive concession in these forest reserves safeguarded by international conventions.
However, the Minerals Commission, the mining regulator, has not disclosed this key information since July 2024, along with other details, including the list of companies granted mining operating permits and the names of the mining companies whose leases have been ratified by Parliament from 2020 to date.
In addition to the four mining leases, at least four other applications for mining and prospecting licenses in GSBAs are awaiting ministerial approval. These include the Krokosua, Subri River, Tano Nimiri, and Fure Headwaters forest reserves.
Daryl Bosu, the Deputy National Director of Arocha Ghana, described the granting of concessions in GSBAs as a betrayal of trust.
“Handing over Ghana’s remaining protected forest reserves for mining is a deliberate betrayal of future generations, stripping away their last safeguards for a sustainable environment, and undermining the very foundation of environmental stewardship, leaving a legacy of irreversible loss,” he stated.
The Ghana Institute of Foresters (GIF) has demanded that President Nana Akufo-Addo immediately withdraws all licenses granted for prospecting and mining in Ghana’s forest reserves.
The GIF in a statement said the government’s decision to allow mining in the country’s forest reserves defeats the wisdom behind their reservation.
The umbrella body of forestry experts has, therefore, called for “the withdrawal of all licenses granted for prospecting and mining in forests and protected reserves (including GSBAs) and around water bodies.”
The GIF’s demand comes after The Fourth Estate’s recent investigations revealed that officials of the New Patriotic Party and government appointees have been granted concessions to mine and prospect in forest reserves.
But the GIF wants this to stop. Among other things, it is also demanding the repeal and revocation of the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forests Reserves) Regulation, also known as LI 2462, and Executive Instrument (EI) 234. Whereas EI 234 de-gazetted about one-third of the Achimota Forest Reserve, LI 2462 gives the President the power to allow mining in Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas (GSBAs).
According to the GIF, the government’s decision to de-gazette portions of the Achimota Forest Reserve sets a bad precedent for the protection of Ghana’s forest estate: “The government should desist from setting bad precedence for de-reserving reserved lands.”
Since LI 2462 came into force in November 2022, many environmental groups have expressed grave concerns about its ramifications.
“Though presented as seeking to regulate mining in forest reserves, LI 2462 has opened the floodgates for institutionalized mining in our forest reserves,” GIF’s statement bemoaned.
Many environmentalists have complained bitterly about how the government pushed for such a law in Parliament without any consultation. The GIF affirmed this in its statement by indicating that it was “completely left in the dark throughout the processes leading [to] the passage of L.I. 2462.”
According to the foresters, it was a “bigger shock” when they finally got to know about the law as it “legally permits unlimited mining in forest reserves. Not even the ecologically sensitive Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas have been spared.”
Before LI 2462, an administrative framework for mining called the Environmental Guideline for Mining in Production Forest Reserves permitted limited mining of not more than 2% of timber production reserves.
To give the guideline the legal teeth to bite its offenders, stakeholders called for a total ban on mining in forest reserves and the enactment of a law to protect these reserves.
However, LI 2462, which was supposed to fill this gap, appears to have incentivised some government appointees to apply for license to mine in Ghana’s forest reserves.
The Fourth Estate’s investigations revealed that as of August 13, 2024, at least 25 companies had filed 32 applications to mine and prospect in 24 forest reserves. Ten of these mining leases have been granted by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, with 22 others awaiting approval. Four of these leases are in GSBAs.
The institute of foresters further pointed out that 37 forest reserves have been ravaged by mining activities. Some of the “severely impacted” reserves, according to them, include Uppaw Wassaw, Apamprama, Oda River, Subin Shelterbelt and Asenanyo River Forest Reserves.
“This is very worrying. It is important to note that about 80% of the approved forest reserve mining leases are for alluvial mining, which are incompatible with forestry as a land use option,” the GIF noted.
“The ability of the forest to provide the known benefits depends on how well the forest ecosystem functions which is also dependent on the size and condition of the forest. Our current forest reserve area is far below the minimum 10% of the total land area targeted for environmental protection,” the statement highlighted.
An earlier statement of the foresters’ issues indicated that forest cover bigger than the size of the Greater Accra Region risks being wiped out given the number of licenses the government has issued so far.
Given the impact of allowing unfettered mining in protected greenbelts, the foresters called on the President, his government, lawmakers, and the judiciary, to help end activities inimical to the protection of these critical reserved areas.
They are demanding that the government and Parliament declare a State of Emergency which includes “an order to ban all forms of alluvial mining (legal or illegal) in forest reserves and around water bodies. Immediate evacuation of all mining equipment in forest reserves and around water bodies.”
The foresters have also requested the deployment of the Police and Military to support the Forestry Commission to protect the forest reserves.
For the Chief Justice and the judiciary, the foresters expect that illegal mining cases before them would be expedited to send a strong signal to individuals who are bent on destroying the forest reserves.
“Currently, 850 illegal miners’ cases are pending before the courts. In some instances, Chinese illegal miners are released due to a lack of interpreters. We call for the urgent allocation of resources to these courts to enable them to expedite the illegal mining cases brought before them,” it said.
Organised Labour is demanding the immediate repeal of the law regulating mining in forest reserves (LI 2462) and has threatened massive labour unrest by the end of this month if the government fails to act.
“Organised labour demands the immediate revocation and withdrawal of all licenses granted for prospecting and mining in forest and protected reserves, as well as around water bodies,” said a joint statement by the labour unions.
Among their demands, they are also calling for the immediate declaration of a state of emergency, in line with the constitution, with a direct order from President Nana Akufo-Addo to halt all forms of mining—both legal and illegal—within forest reserves and near water bodies.
They further demand the evacuation of all mining equipment from these areas and the deployment of military and police forces, empowered to remove or destroy any mining machinery in these sensitive regions.
The unions are also pressing for the establishment of a special court to prosecute those involved in the illegal mining menace, which has escalated into a major public health concern.
Their statement follows a series of publications by The Fourth Estate, highlighting how the passage of LI 2462 in November 2022 led to 32 applications from 25 companies to mine in 24 forest reserves. Ten of these applications have been approved, with 22 others awaiting approval. Many of the beneficiaries are prominent members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), including Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi-Bosiako, Wassa East District Chief Executive, Emmanuel Boakye, NPP Deputy Western Regional Women’s Organiser, Angelina Bint Ntaama, and the 2024 Juaben Constituency parliamentary candidate, Francis Owusu-Akyaw.
These revelations, along with widespread media reports of illegal mining in water bodies, have sparked outrage among the public and labour unions. The Trades Union Congress (TUC), the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), and theForum for Public Sector Associations and Unions, are joining other prominent voices—including the Minority in Parliament and the National House of Chiefs—in calling for the repeal of LI 2462.
According to the statement, signed by Joshua Ansah, Secretary-General of the TUC, and Kenneth Koomson, Deputy Secretary General of the GFL, and Isaac Bampoe Addo, the unions are deeply concerned about the environmental destruction caused by illegal mining, or ‘galamsey’ and its accompanying health risks. They cited exposure to toxic chemicals like mercury and cyanide, as well as a rise in respiratory and waterborne diseases due to polluted air and water.
“It is now clear to us, as it is to all well-meaning Ghanaians, that the menace of ‘galamsey’ has reached crisis proportions,” the statement read. “The depletion of our forest cover has never been this rapid. The destruction of our water bodies is at an unprecedented scale. Our entire ecosystem is on the precipice.”
The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has had to shut down several treatment plants due to the severe pollution of water bodies, causing a surge in production costs and a drastic reduction in water supply to communities across the country. Residents of Cape Coast, Elmina, Kyebi, Beposo, Supom-Dunkwa, Bokorkope, and Atwereboanda are among those suffering from the effects of illegal mining, while rivers like the Offin, Pra, Birim, and Ankobrah remain heavily polluted.
The unions warn that these developments have dire consequences. “The cost of treating water has increased about tenfold, according to GWCL. Ghana risks having to import water for household and industrial consumption,” they warned.
They also expressed concerns about food security, noting that agricultural lands are increasingly being appropriated for mining activities.
“The inappropriate use of mining-related chemicals is reducing the productivity of agricultural lands and threatening food safety,” they said.
Satelite imagery showing the damage on the concession
