Security expert Professor Kwesi Aning has called on government agencies to adopt a transparent data-driven approach to the fight against illegal mining by publishing daily turbidity levels of major rivers and monthly reports on the state of the country's forests.
Speaking on Joy FM's Newsfile programme on Saturday, October 11, 2025, Prof. Aning said these two indicators would provide citizens with clear and verifiable evidence of whether the government's anti-galamsey campaign is achieving results.
"Let the Ghana Water Company publish daily turbidity levels, and let the Forestry Commission release monthly forest-status reports," he said. "That is the only way we can measure progress. If the rivers are getting clearer and the forests recovering, then we know the fight is real."
He argued that the absence of such measurable data has created room for untested political claims and distorted public narratives.
"People can sit in Accra and say the fight is succeeding, but if the rivers are still brown and the forest canopy continues to shrink, then it's only talk," he warned. "We must move from rhetoric to evidence. Accountability must be grounded in facts that every Ghanaian can verify."
Prof. Aning explained that publishing these reports would not only keep citizens informed but also expose whether district authorities, environmental officers, and political leaders are performing their duties.
"Without transparent metrics, corruption and disinformation thrive," he said. "Once the data is public, there will be no hiding place for those sabotaging the system."
He further cautioned that the newly launched National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Squadron (NAIMOS), a 400-member task force drawn from the security services, risks repeating the failures of previous operations if systemic weaknesses are not addressed.
"These are our sons and brothers in uniform," he noted. "The question is how to protect them from the same corruption that crippled Operation Vanguard and Operation Halt. Without systems that shield them, we will lose them too."
Prof. Aning stressed that genuine reform must go beyond the formation of new task forces and focus on building institutions that are transparent and resistant to political interference.
"New uniforms and new names mean nothing if the underlying interests remain untouched," he cautioned. "NAIMOS must be insulated from political control and financial temptation; otherwise, the same cycle will repeat."
He concluded that until progress in the fight against illegal mining can be measured through publicly available data, government efforts will remain superficial.
"You can send soldiers, you can pass new laws, but if we cannot measure the outcome daily and monthly, then we are only pretending to fight," he said.