page_title: Operation Vanguard
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Vanguard / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: earth moving equipment, galamsey machine
context_page_description: Operation Vanguard is a Military Police Joint Task Force set up by the President of Ghana in 2017 to combat the operation of galamsey in Ghana. Galamseyers are illegal miners and have over the years depleted Ghana's forest cover. Their activities also pollute water bodies due to the crude and unregulated nature of the mining process.
context_section_description: 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. Using all media platforms available to the coalition, pressure was mounted on the Government of Ghana to respond to the environmental degradation 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. The increase in cost was due to the extra cost of aluminium sulphate 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 responded by promising to end the galamsey menace even if it would cause disaffection from those who benefited from galamsey.
caption: Earth moving equipment used in galamsey
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