Police in the Western Region have arrested 12 illegal miners suspected to have caused damage to sections of the Nsuta-Takoradi rail line at Akyem in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality.
The suspects are expected to be arraigned before the Tarkwa Circuit Court today (Tuesday October 7).
This came to light when the Western Regional Minister, Joseph Nelson, led the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to the location of the destruction yesterday.
The Minister’s visit follows a viral video showing the destruction of the active rail line and its publication by the the media yesterday.
He condemned the level of devastation caused by the group of miners who entered the space without permission, dug the rail lines and destroyed a large stretch of the rail lines to satisfy their selfish interests.
Mr Nelson said the railway was critical for the country’s manganese exports and that as the company worked to get itself back on its feet those selfish individuals took undue advantage to cause havoc.
He also expressed regret that residents in the community could condone such an illegality being perpetrated in broad daylight by refusing to report the perpetrators to the state.
“This is a threat not only to national assets but also to our very existence since the environment is constantly being polluted, threat to water supply, forest reserves, water bodies among others,” he said.
The Regional Minister urged the police to step up surveillance to ensure that such illegalities were prevented, saying “from all indications this mining did not happen in a day; it’s been here for weeks or months.”
Mr Nelson called on traditional leaders to take control of their communities and urged the Ghana Railways Authority to increase patrols to prevent further destruction.
“I urge you to survey the lines and see other areas that have been affected,” he said.
In an interesting twist, some residents have blamed the situation on certain individuals within the Ghana Railways Authority who had told the miners to go ahead and that the new standard gauge line under construction would not pass through the Akyem community.
The Assistant Superintendent of Tracks at the GRC, Sampson Nyame, told the REGSEC that it had become very difficult for them to monitor the rail lines because the only rail car for monitoring had broken down.
However, the youth and community members, who have expressed regret about the incident, have vowed to help reclaim the degraded areas and serve as vanguards of the community against any illegal mining activities.
The damage, which was discovered last Wednesday [Oct 1, 2025], has affected rail tracks, slippers and works at Akyem, a community near Nsuta in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality, while large portions of the land on which the rail line lies are degraded in yet another telling impact of illegal mining, commonly call galamsey in local parlance.
The destroyed stretch no longer sits on solid ground, but hangs over pits dug by the illegal miners, while other sections are covered with sand.
The damage came to the attention of the company only last week when someone passing through the area informed the District Manager about what he had noticed on the ground.
Officials’ response
Officials of Ghana Railway Company said a full-scale assessment would tell whether the damage was restricted to the Akyem area or extended into other places.
The officials estimate that it could cost the company at least $18 million to repair the damaged portion of the rail line.
Sources say the illegal miners secured the land from local traditional authorities, who have maintained support for the day and night illegal mining activities in the area, which have left the environment seriously damaged.
The miners are said to have acquired the land, including the Ghana Railway Company’s right of way and buffers, in the community.
The galamseyers in the community are said to deploy a technology known locally as “one leg”, which involves the combination of a big water hose and a high-pressure water pump to wash the earth after initial digging by an excavator.
The “one leg” is said to be more deadly in terms of speed of destruction of the environment than the conventional excavators.
The company said the hard truth was that the illegal miners had collapsed its manganese haulage operations, which was one of the biggest contributors to the national economy.
The Deputy Chief Civil Engineer of the company, Emmanuel Aggudey, explained to Graphic Online’s Dotsey Komla Aklorbortu that for purposes of safety and maintenance, the company halted operations in January, 2025, having appealed to the government for financial support to fix its rollingstock, namely the locomotives, tracks, slippers and the wagon, as well as to undertake some works on the lines.
“Within these few months of trying to put things in order, the galamseyers took advantage of the situation and invaded the lines, destroying a very long stretch of active lines, bringing our operations to a standstill,” he said.
Current situation
The current situation, Mr Aggudey said, was no longer an issue about getting the rollingstock fixed and back into service, but instead about how the activities of the illegal miners had now quadrupled the cost of maintenance of the rollingstock and fixing the destroyed stretch.
“The activities of these galamseyers were known to us, and sensing danger, we wrote to the sector ministry, and as a proactive measure went to the community to engage the chiefs and leaders of the Akyem community. The chiefs assured us that they would ensure that the miners did not go closer to the lines and even have the degraded areas reclaimed, ” he said.
Mr Aggudey said it was mindboggling that the community looked on and allowed the miners to cause such havoc to national assets.
“As we speak, the miners are actively working throughout the day and night with a high level of impunity, ” he added.
The Deputy Chief Civil Engineer said at present, due to the finances of the company, “we are unable to get it done, since the money required is beyond the finances of the company, as even our workers’ salaries are in arrears.
Therefore, the damage caused by these illegal miners is serious and creates a difficult situation for the company.”
Mr Aggudey, however, expressed the hope that the recent efforts to combat galamsey in the region and across the country would lead to the clearing of the miners on the line so that the company could get back on its feet.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
