Sammy Gyamfi, the Ghana Gold Board’s (GoldBod) acting CEO, has declared that the government intends to repeal Legislative Instrument (LI) 2462 as soon as Parliament returns from recess.
Highlighting the current administration’s dedication to safeguarding Ghana’s forests from destructive mining activities, he called the contentious legislation “poisonous.”
On April 23, 2025, Sammy Gyamfi stated on Channel One TV’s The Point of View that “LI 2462 will be revoked by the NDC/Mahama government immediately Parliament resumes.”
Sammy Gyamfi went on to say that there have been different legal viewpoints on the matter, stating that some people wanted the Act to be amended to remove merely the president’s discretionary power, while others insisted on a complete repeal.
“There were legal issues as to whether or not it should be amended or revoked because there is a school of thought that revoking it could lead to a certain vacuum and that what had to be cured was the discretion or power given to the president to grant mining leases for people to mine in protected forest zones.
“Then there was another school of thought that said, look, let’s revoke the entire law, even if we get a vacuum, we can come up with a new LI… but the LI 2462 is poisonous. It should go in its entirety. Those who made that argument have won; we are a listening government,” he stated.
The November 2022 enactment of LI 2462, which permits mining in forest reserves on the grounds of “national interest,” infuriated the public, civil society organizations (CSOs), and environmentalists.
The 2018 Environmental Guidelines, which prohibited mining in Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas (GSBAs), such as the Tano Offin Forest Reserves and the Atewa Range, were among the protections that critics claimed the rules violated.
According to reports, 22% of Ghana’s forest lands were set aside for mining leases within a year after its enactment, which accelerated deforestation, water pollution, and biodiversity loss.
Widespread demonstrations and pressure from organizations including the Ghana Institute of Foresters, the Ghana Coalition Against Galamsey, and Organized Labor, which threatened a statewide strike in September 2024, helped to accelerate the effort to repeal LI 2462.