Operation Vanguard is a Military Police Joint Task Force (JTF) set up by the

President of Ghana The president of the Republic of Ghana is the elected head of state and head of government of Ghana, as well as commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces. The current president of Ghana is Nana Akufo-Addo, who won the 2020 presidential elec ...

in 2017 to combat the operation of

galamsey Galamsey, derived from the phrase "gather them and sell", is a local Ghanaian parlance that means illegal small-scale, gold mining in Ghana. Such workers are known as galamseyers or ''orpailleurs'' in neighboring Francophone nations. Galamseyers a ...

in Ghana. Galamseyers are illegal miners and have over the years depleted Ghana's

forest cover Forest cover is the amount of forest that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/square miles). Around a third of the world's surface is covered with forest, with closed-canop ...

. Their activities also pollute water bodies due to the crude and unregulated nature of the mining process.

Background

The formation of Operation Vanguard was necessitated by the formation of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey on 4 April 2017. The coalition was a collective of concerned journalists in Ghana led by workers of the

Graphic Communications Group Limited The Graphic Communications Group Limited is the leading and largest newspaper publishing company in Ghana. History Graphic Communications Group Limited was established in 1950 by the then Daily Mirror Group in UK. Products Graphic publishes and ...

. Using all media platforms available to the coalition, pressure was mounted on the Government of Ghana to respond to the

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...

caused by galamsey. Galamsey had resulted in some cocoa and cashew farms being sold by owners so that the fertile soil could be excavated for allegedly being sold out for illegal mining activities. The level of pollution of water bodies had caused an increase in production costs for the

Ghana Water Company Ghana Water Company (formerly Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation, Aqua Vitens, and Rand Limited) is the majority provider of water utility services in Ghana. History In the pre-colonial era, inhabitants of what is now Ghana primarily drew thei ...

. The increase in cost was due to the extra cost of

aluminium sulphate Aluminium sulfate is a salt with the formula Al2 (SO4)3. It is soluble in water and is mainly used as a coagulating agent (promoting particle collision by neutralizing charge) in the purification of drinking water and wastewater treatment plan ...

the company needed to treat water from the polluted water bodies. The activities of the media coalition gained support from many Ghanaians who knew the environmental damage galamsey was causing. President

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ( ; born 29 March 1944) is a Ghanaian politician who has served as the president of Ghana since 7 January 2017. In 2020, he was re-elected for his second term, which will end on 6 January 2025. Akufo-Addo previously ...

responded by promising to end the galamsey menace even if it would cause disaffection from those who benefited from galamsey.

Launch

Nana Akuffo-Addo launched Operation Vanguard group on 31 July 2017 in fulfillment of his promise. The aim of the group is stopping the activities of galamseyers in the three most galamsey ravaged regions in the country. Three Forward Operating Bases were established in those regions namely Ashanti,

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and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

Regions. Towns in the regions where the activities of galamseyers are high are

Tarkwa Tarkwa is a town and is the capital of Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal district, a district in the Western Region southwest of South Ghana. Tarkwa has a 2013 settlement population of 34,941 people. Economy Mining Tarkwa is noted as a centre of gold m ...

in the Western,

Obuasi Obuasi is a Mining Community and town in the southern part of Obuasi Municipal of the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Obuasi is the capital of the Obuasi Municipal which lies south of Ashanti capital city Kumasi 39 miles (59.4 kilometres) away south ...

in the Ashanti and Osino in the Eastern Regions. The JTF is made up of service men and women from the

Ghana Armed Forces The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is the unified armed force of Ghana, consisting of the Army (GA), Navy (GN), and Ghana Air Force. The Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces is the president of Ghana, who is also the supreme military commander ...

and the

Ghana Police Service The Ghana Police Service (GPS) is the main law enforcement agency of Ghana. The service is under the control of the Ghanaian Ministry of the Interior, and employs over 30,000 officers across its 651 stations. Organisational structure The Ghana P ...

. At the start of the operation, the government placed a six-month ban on all forms of small scale mining in the country. The operation was extended from January 2018 to June 2018 because its intended objectives had not yet been achieved.

Operations

When Operation Vanguard was launched, it was under the command of Colonel William Agyapong and comprised 400 service men. Governmental supervision was done through an inter-ministerial committee and the heads of the Ministries of Defence and Interior, the Chief of Defence Staff, and the

Inspector General of Police An Inspector General of Police is a senior police officer in the police force or police service of several nations. The rank usually refers to the head of a large regional command within a police service, and in many countries refers to the most se ...

. Chairman of the inter-ministerial committee, Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, informed Ghana that the task force would remain in the affected areas until the degraded lands and rivers had been restored and a reforestation programme undertaken. Personnel of the Ghana Navy and Marine Police were charged with the monitoring of the major rivers and water bodies within the operations area and were tasked with ensuring total eradication of galamsey activities in the waters. Operations command was handed over to Colonel Michael Amoah Ayisi in January 2018. It was reported in May 2018 that 75 percent of the operation's target had been achieved.

Arrests and findings

Since the start of the operations of the JTF, many galamseyers have been arrested. Galamsey offenders are mostly Ghanaian nationals with the rest being from other West African countries and Chinese nationals. On 21 May 2018, four offenders were arrested at Asendua near

Hiawa Hiawa is an indigenous village of Macushi Amerindians in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Upper Takutu-Upper Esequibo (Region 9) is a region of Guyana. Venezuela claims the territory as part of Bolívar (state) in Esequiban Guyana. It border ...

in the Amenfi Central District. Colonel Agyapong revealed that 58 different types of assault weapons had been retrieved from galamseyeres. The weapons included pistols, single and double barreled guns, and pump action guns. The guns were either locally manufactured or imported.

Successes

In December 2017 President Akuffo-Addo described the activities of Operation Vanguard as a success. He believed the nation's resources had been put to the right use and the harmful practices of the illegal miners were being eradicated. In February 2018 a spokesperson for Operation Vanguard declared that over 1,000 illegal miners had been arrested and their equipment seized. Several hundred makeshift accommodations had been destroyed. Successful operations had stopped the pollution of bodies of water, especially at Dokokyina near the

Bui Dam The Bui Dam is a hydroelectric project in Ghana. It is built on the Black Volta river at the ''Bui Gorge'', at the southern end of Bui National Park. The project is a collaboration between the government of Ghana and Sino Hydro, a Chinese constru ...

, as well as the rivers of Birim,

Ankobra The Ankobra River is primarily situated in Ghana. Rising north east of Wiawso, it flows about south to the Gulf of Guinea. Its entire course is in south Ghana.Offin. On 24 May 2018, John Peter Amewu, sector minister for Lands and Natural Resources in Ghana, said a total of 1,500 floating platforms had been destroyed. He hinted to the possible removal of the ban placed on small-scale mining. Companies accredited by the Minerals Commission of Ghana would be the only ones allowed to undertake small-scale mining.

Failures

Some members of the Ghanaian public believed that the activities of Operation Vanguard could not be described as a success. This was due to the caliber of offenders arrested. They believed that the galamsey kingpins were still free and would return to the act if the operations ended. A major reason why failures had persisted in certain areas was due to inaccessible terrain.

Punishment for offenders

It was reported by the commander in charge of Operation Vanguard that the punishments meted out to galamseyers were not deterrent enough. Most Ghanaian offenders were given a fine or imprisoned, while foreign nationals were deported. The fines were between 1000 and 6000 cedis. Jail terms ranged from four to eighteen months. In May 2018, a spokesperson for the operation expressed satisfaction with the types of punishments that were being given to offenders. However, concern remained for the slow pace of convictions for foreigners caught in the act. Public Relations Officer for the operation,

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...

Robinson Omane Agyei, stated that only 22 out of 172 Chinese nationals arrested had been jailed since the beginning of the operations.

Expansion of activities

Due to the success of the operations, leaders of regions where Operation Vanguard was absent asked the president to include them in the operations. A new operating base was established in the Central Region. In the first few days of the establishment of the base, four offenders were arrested, including one Chinese national and three Ghanaians at Nkutumso, in the

Upper Denkyira East District Upper Denkyira East Municipal District is one of the thirty-three districts in Central Region, Ghana. Originally it was formerly part of the then-larger Upper Denkyira District in 1988, which was created from the former Denkyira District Council, ...

of the Central Region. Aside from arrests, equipment for ground excavation was seized.

Controversies

Sections of the Ghanaian public have protested against the destruction of mining equipment seized from galamseyers through Operation Vanguard. Those against the practice believed the equipment could be auctioned or put to use by the government in road construction or other beneficial activities, rather than burning it. Some people have claimed that members of Operation Vanguard have been meting out selective punishment to galamseyers. Unproven allegations of bribe-taking have been leveled against some service men of the operation. Eastern regional Minister Eric Kwakye Darfour made similar allegations against the team in December 2017. Allegations of bribery and selective justice leveled against the operation were refuted by a management member of the team. It was stated that some people had used impersonation to trick galamseyers into paying bribes. According to Operation Vanguard, such impersonators had been arrested and prosecuted.

Suggestions

In 2018 it was suggested that the President of Ghana create a new

national award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate ...

to honour the initial 400 service personnel of Operation Vanguard. A suggested name for the award was National Environment Heritage Heroes Award.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Mining in Ghana Government of Ghana Crime in Ghana Presidency of Nana Akufo-Addo 2017 crimes in Ghana 2010s crimes in Ghana 2020s crimes in Ghana]