Dr. Ishmael Hlovor, an expert in International Relations, has urged the government to ensure all foreign nationals involved in illegal mining activities, popularly known as galamsey, are prosecuted in Ghana before being deported.
In an interview with ABCNewsGh, Dr. Hlovor warned that immediate deportation without legal consequences creates a revolving door, allowing offenders to return and resume their activities with impunity.
According to him, the failure to properly prosecute these individuals undermines Ghana’s fight against environmental destruction and national sovereignty.
“Those people are terrorists—or environmental terrorists, as we want to call them,” he declared. “They must be made to face the law of Ghana and be punished accordingly. Deporting them may not necessarily solve your problem.”
Dr. Hlovor further urged the government to tighten border control and surveillance mechanisms to prevent re-entry and clamp down on the networks facilitating illegal mining.
He stressed that a strong legal precedent must be established to deter not only foreign actors but their local collaborators who enable these crimes.
