Cooperative mining will end galamsey destruction – Regional Director

Correspondence from the Western Region

Bawuah Akwasi Adjei, Western Regional Director of Cooperatives, has urged members of the newly registered Responsible Cooperative Mining Societies in Ellembelle to mine legally and protect the environment.

He gave the charge on Friday, October 16, 2026, at Nkroful during the launch of the Ellembelle Responsible Cooperative Mining Societies by the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah.

The five societies were registered by the Department of Cooperatives in collaboration with the Minerals Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Water Resources Commission, as part of the government’s efforts to formalise small-scale mining.

Speaking at the event, Akwasi Adjei described the inauguration as a historic duty to formalise a dream, realise livelihoods, and sanitise an industry that had for years been characterised by informality, unsafe practices and destruction.

“We can mine, but we mine responsibly. We can make money, but we will not destroy our rivers. We can dig for gold, but we will not dig the grave of our future,” he stated.

He said the societies were founded on three pillars: legal and formal mining, responsibility to man and the environment, and responsibility to members and the community.

He explained that members were now a registered and recognised legal entity required to work with the Minerals Commission to obtain licences, operate only within designated concessions, and comply with the laws of Ghana.

On environmental responsibility, he stressed the need to end reckless mining, stop the use of mercury in rivers, and reclaim every mined land for farming, adding that the rivers and forests were crying for help.

He said the cooperative model would ensure that wealth from mining benefited local communities through fair profit sharing and social interventions such as building schools, repairing roads and supporting community development, rather than enriching a few individuals.

Adjei urged the societies to abide strictly by their bylaws, uphold the principle of one person, one vote, and ensure transparency and accountability in the handling of members’ funds.

“Keep books, weigh gold openly, share profits fairly, and invite audits. Once trust is lost, the society dies,” he cautioned the executives.

He also charged members to commit to reclamation and safety by wearing protective gear and planting trees after mining to prove that small-scale miners were responsible developers and not destroyers.

The Regional Director thanked the Minerals Commission, EPA and Water Resources Commission for partnering to organise and register the miners, and assured them that district cooperative officers would train the leaders in cooperative management, bookkeeping and conflict resolution.

“By the power vested in me as the Regional Director of Cooperatives for the Western Region, and on behalf of the Registrar of Cooperatives, I now declare all the five responsible cooperative mining groups duly inaugurated and fully admitted to the cooperative movement of Ghana,” he concluded.