Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has asked Ghanaians who disagree with his government’s approach of fighting illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) along river bodies by burning excavators and equipment used in the illegality, to proceed to court for redress.

Some Ghanaians have questioned the rationale for burning the excavators when they could be confiscated and used for other projects for the state or reclamation of the devastated mining sites.

However, the government and its agencies, including the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, as well as the Ministry of Defence, have justified the burning of the excavators.

Speaking for the first time about the matter at a sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of the Law Village Project in Accra on Wednesday, the President justified his approach and urged Ghanaians to support his government to put an end to galamsey.