Galamsey Fight: A-G laments slow court processes and demands cooperation from Judiciary

A total of one hundred and nineteen (119) criminal cases involving the prosecution of about seven hundred and twenty-seventy (727) individuals for offences connected with illegal mining (galamsey) in the country have been pending at the High Court and some Circuit Courts around the country since January 2022.

Four regions – Eastern, Ashanti, Western and Greater-Accra Regions are the main regions in which the prosecution of persons engaged in illegal mining is being conducted. The Upper East Region and the Northern Regions have a few as well.

Giving the breakdown to the media, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, indicated that, on average, a typical galamsey case involves the arrest and prosecution of at least six or seven individuals.

For that matter, the total number of persons standing trial in the 119 cases is over 727. Most of the cases are prosecuted in the region in which the arrests were effected, Mr. Dame indicated that the trials involve in some cases, Ghanaians, Chinese, Nigerian, Nigerien, Burkinabe and other West African nationals.

Fifty (50) cases are pending in Koforidua in the Eastern Region, thirty-three (33) are being prosecuted at Tarkwa and Sekondi in the Western Region, twenty-three (23) in the Obuasi and other parts of the Ashanti Region, whilst seven (7) are currently pending in the High Court, Accra. The Upper East and Northern Regions record three (3) and one (1) in the courts at Bolgatanga and Tamale, respectively.

The offences for which the accused persons are standing trial are undertaking a mining operation without a licence and buying and selling minerals without a licence under the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act 995).

The passage of Act 995, spearheaded by the Akufo-Addo administration in 2019, enhanced the sentences for both buying and selling minerals without a licence and undertaking a mining operation without a licence.

In the case of a Ghanaian, it is now a term of a minimum of fifteen years imprisonment and a maximum of twenty-five years together with a fine of a minimum of ten thousand penalty units and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units. In the case of a non-Ghanaian, Act 995 has enhanced the punishment for the same offences to a term of a minimum of twenty years imprisonment and a maximum of twenty-five years, together with a fine of a minimum one hundred thousand penalty units and not more than three hundred and fifty thousand penalty units.

The new punishment regime is in contrast to the situation under Act 703 passed in 2006, which prescribed a penalty of a minimum of three thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not more than five years for the offence of trading in minerals and mining without a licence.

Some severe challenges with prosecution of galamsey cases

The Attorney-General drew attention to some of the challenges which have accounted for the relatively slow pace of prosecution of suspected galamsey offenders.

He stated that the grant of bail by the court to accused persons on very lenient conditions enables accused persons to easily meet them and abscond afterwards.

A number of the accused persons standing trial around the country have absconded after they were granted bail by the courts. Estreating the bail bonds has proved futile since the sureties have also absconded.

Even when they do not abscond, they go back to engage in galamsey after having been granted bail by the courts.

The A-G indicated that the Judiciary ought to cooperate in this fight against galamsey by being cautious in the grant of bail and speeding up its processes to ensure swift prosecution and punishment of offenders.

There is also a lack of cooperation on the part of witnesses. The prosecution sometimes finds it difficult to secure witnesses who initially give statements at the investigations stage to come to Court to testify.

The unwillingness to testify is attributable to the fact that witnesses in galamsey cases live in the same community as the accused persons and are often threatened and intimidated by them.

Mr. Dame also indicated that sometimes, investigators fail to seize the illegal mining equipment used to commit the crime, and even when they do, they fail to bring the items to court. This makes the case of the prosecution quite difficult. Another challenge is the failure of arresting officers to arrest suspects on the mining site itself, thereby making it difficult to link the suspects to the offence.

Absence or lack of court interpreters who can speak and interpret court proceedings in the language accused persons may want to use, as witnessed in the trial of a Vietnamese national in Accra, slows down court proceedings.

The A-G assured the nation of the commitment of his Office to the prosecution and punishment of suspected offenders following the conclusion of sound investigations.

Wrong sentencing by the court

One major drawback to the prosecution of galamsey offenders is what the A-G describes as the “strange and absurd situation” where some judges fail to apply the new mandatory punishment for convicted persons and rather sentence them to a fine only. He cited the example of a conviction of some Chinese and Ghanaian nationals for galamsey by a Circuit Court in Tarkwa in 2021 and the accused persons were sentenced to a fine.

Pursuant to the instruction of the A-G, the Western Region Office of the Attorney-General intervened and applied to the High Court for judicial review of the orders of the Circuit Court.

This application was upheld and the accused persons were then sentenced to terms of fifteen and 20 years as required by law, which are being served.

A similar situation has occurred in the Upper East Region with persons being prosecuted by the Police, having been convicted in 2022 and sentenced to only a fine.

This has come to the attention of the A-G, who has instructed the Upper East Regional Office of the Attorney-General to take over and file applications to quash the sentences and for the mandatory minimum of fifteen years in jail to be imposed.

Galamsey cases in the Greater-Accra – Aisha Huang

Even though Greater Accra is not a “galamsey region”, the High Court, Accra, has been the scene of many high-profile prosecutions in the fight against galamsey, especially involving Chinese and other foreign nationals.

Notably, in September 2022, the Attorney-General, Godfred Dame, revived the prosecution of the alleged notorious galamsey queen, En Huang also known as Aisha Huang, after her prosecution had been discontinued by the Republic in 2018, and she had been subsequently repatriated.

The prosecution of Aisha Huang is proceeding steadily, with the prosecution expected to close its case by Thursday, 4th May, after having called 11 witnesses.

Mr. Dame stated that most of the galamsey cases involving foreign nationals are often coupled with charges under the immigration laws of Ghana, in view of the regular infraction by them of those laws.

Most immigration offences are however punishable with the option of a fine, a situation the Attorney-General cited as responsible for the persistent violation by foreign nationals.

There is a need for a strengthening of Ghana’s immigration laws to make the punishment for a violation stricter and more deterrent.

Prosecution of galamsey in the Eastern Region

50 galamsey cases are currently pending in the High Court and Circuit Courts in the Eastern Region. The prosecution has closed its case in about eight (8) of them, with the court holding that a case has been established for the accused persons to open their defence. The accused persons are thus calling evidence in their defence.

Convictions in the Eastern Region

The Attorney-General had cause to recognise the exceptional contribution of the Eastern Regional Office of the Attorney-General for their distinct contribution to the punishment of galamsey.

It would be recalled that in October 2022, the Attorney-General reported the conviction of 187 persons, including twenty-nine (29) nationals of Niger, seven (7) Nigerians and 3 Chinese for galamsey offences between 2017 and October 2022.

A majority of the accused persons were tried and sentenced under the old section 99 of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), which allowed punishment by a simple fine.

This situation often compelled accused persons to plead guilty and walk away with just the imposition of a fine.

The enhancement of the punishment for galamsey with the mandatory 15 years in prison, in the case of a Ghanaian and 20 years imprisonment in the case of a foreign national, in the view of the Attorney-General, has made trials in galamsey cases last longer as accused persons resist pleading guilty and resort to various processes to frustrate their trial.

This notwithstanding, out of the 187 convicted persons, thirty-three (33) were tried and sentenced under the new Act 995 between August 2021 and September 2022, and are currently serving various prison terms of between 15 years and 20 years, together with fines imposed by the court.

Galamsey trials in the Western Region

Mr Dame stated that 23 galamsey cases are currently pending, mostly at the courts in Tarkwa and Sekondi. These cases involve a range of people, including foreign nationals and officers of companies which have abused their exploratory and prospecting licences to illegally engage in mining.

Prosecution of galamsey offences in the Ashanti Region

The Ashanti Region also records 33 pending galamsey cases since 2022. The Attorney-General indicated that until recently, dockets on galamsey cases were prosecuted entirely by the Ghana Police Service, a situation which was fraught with serious challenges and which compelled the Attorney-General to instruct the Head of the Kumasi Office of the Attorney-General to call for all dockets on galamsey for prosecution. This has sped up and boosted the general efficiency of prosecution of galamsey cases in the Ashanti Region.