{"id":115127,"date":"2026-02-12T21:02:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T21:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=115127"},"modified":"2026-02-12T21:02:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T21:02:57","slug":"a-tax-for-galamsey-weve-gotten-to-a-point-where-brute-force-must-be-applied-elikem-kotoko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=115127","title":{"rendered":"A Tax for Galamsey: We\u2019ve gotten to a point where brute force must be applied\u00a0\u2013 Elikem Kotoko"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Deputy Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, Elikem Kotoko, has suggested that Ghana may have reached a critical point where the use of tougher measures, including brute force, may be necessary to address illegal mining (galamsey).<\/p>\n

Speaking during a JoyNews<\/strong> national dialogue on illegal mining on Thursday, Mr Kotoko, who is also a spokesperson of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), said the fight against the canker must be strengthened with decisive action to prevent further degradation of forests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been concern about the use of brute force, but I feel that we\u2019ve gotten to that point where that must be applied to serve as a major deterrence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His comment comes after a JoyNews<\/strong>\u00a0Hotline Documentary, which revealed that some district assemblies in mining communities are collecting fees from operators of banned mining equipment, a practice described as a \u201cgalamsey tax\u201d system.<\/p>\n

Mr Kotoko noted that beyond security interventions, the judiciary also has a significant role to play in ensuring that culprits do not escape punishment.<\/p>\n

He commended the Chief Justice for measures aimed at improving the efficiency of the courts, particularly in handling galamsey and corruption-related cases.<\/p>\n

He referenced the extension of court sittings beyond regular hours, with hearings now expected to continue up to 6:30 pm on working days, as a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Mr Kotoko further called for the adoption of technology in judicial processes to enhance prosecutions and reduce delays.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe in the time to come, we should see how we can employ technology more, even in our court proceedings, to make sure that there is a need for more prosecutions,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He stressed that stronger enforcement would send a clear message that no one is above the law.
\u201cPeople must know that they cannot go scot-free. It doesn\u2019t matter who I am,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

He also pointed to ongoing land and environmental reclamation efforts as an important aspect of the fight, describing it as a major issue that deserves sustained public attention.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Deputy Chief Executive of Forestry Commission and Spokesperson of NAIMOS, Elikem Kotoko, has suggested that Ghana may have reached a critical point where the use of tougher measures, including brute force, may be necessary to effectively clamp down on illegal mining (galamsey).<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16812,789,196,1883,117,10,9,1887],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brute-force","category-elikem-kotoko","category-galamsey","category-national","category-news","category-politics","category-popular","category-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}