When 26-year-old Sulemana Fuseini Ziama set out for the Offin Shelter Forest Reserve on that fateful day with 23 other members of the Forest Commission’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) to clamp down on illegal mining activities, he was in high spirit because it was a national duty worth embarking on.
The native of Nadowli-Kaleo in the Upper West Region knew that he had the arduous responsibility to protect the country’s forest reserves from destruction in the hands of illegal miners and other environmental criminals. Little did he know that he would become prey to the predatory illegal miners.
Having been recruited as a Forest Commission staff at the Bole Bamboi District in December, 2022, Mr Ziama was given special training to serve in the RRT, a special unit of the Commission responsible for routine surveillance and safeguarding forest reserves from illegal activities. He was subsequently deployed to the Nkawie Forest District in 2024 to guard forest reserves.
Narrating events of the day in an interview with the Daily Graphic on December 11, this year, Mr Ziamah said on March 22, this year, the RRT was deployed to Mmofra Mfa Adwene in the Nkawie District to monitor illegal human activities in the Offin Shelter Forest Reserve when he was attacked and nearly lynched by the illegal miners.
“When we got to the forest reserve, we raelised that illegal mining was ongoing. As we tried to get to where the illegal miners were, we were ambushed by gunmen who blocked the road. When stopped, we realised that they were 10 in number; but all of a sudden, about 20 others emerged from the bushes. As we tried to make a tactical retreat, three of them attacked me and cut my knee with machetes,” he said.
Although Mr Ziama narrowly survived the deadly attack, he is still battling for his life nine months after undergoing critical medical attention, including two surgeries, at multiple health facilities.
“I was first sent to the Nkawie Hospital and later moved to the Komfo Anokhye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi. I went through the first surgery on March 23, 2025 and the second surgery was done four days later,” he narrated.
Mr Ziama said although his condition had improved, he still felt unbearable pain in his leg, making it difficult for him to freely move around.
“I am still going through physiotherapy at the Holy Family Hospital; and my doctor said it will take me at least one more year to be able to walk well. Life is really terrible for me now because I can no longer do the things I did,” he added.
Aside from his physical condition, Mr Ziamah is battling with psychological trauma as events of that fateful day keep playing back in his mind.
Nightmares
Sharing his field experiences with the Daily Graphic, Mr Ziama said anytime members of the RRT set out for the field, there was no guarantee that they would return safe. He explained that illegal miners and loggers had sophisticated weapons and were trigger thirsty.
“They have informants so anytime we move out for field operations, they know all our movements because they have people in nearby communities who give them information. The illegal miners also hire the services of armed guards to protect them while they destroy the forest,” he said.
He added that sometimes, when the RRT arrested criminals in forest reserves and was transporting them to towns for action to be taken against them, vehicles breakdown, exposing the team to attacks.
Wider picture
Meanwhile, the Nkawie District Manager of the Forestry Commission, Abraham Essel, said the ordeal of Mr Ziama was just one of the numerous traumatising challenges forest guards go through in the line of duty.
“Our forest guards come under attacks and receive threats and abuse from thugs all the time. I have personally met such confrontations by thugs in forest reserves, and it gets so scary,” he said.
As of December 2025, the Forestry Commission’s data showed that at least 10 of its officers have lost their lives in direct confrontations with illegal miners over the past five years.
One of the most widely reported incidents occurred in January 2022, when a Forestry Commission guard, Stephen Kumi, was shot and killed by suspected illegal miners in the Neung Forest Reserve in the Western North Region.
Another significant event took place in August 2021, where a forestry guard was severely injured after being attacked by illegal miners in the Atewa Forest Reserve.
In October 2023, a team of Forestry Commission officers and military personnel on an anti-galamsey operation in the Atewa Forest Reserve were ambushed by illegal miners and inflicted with machete injuries
Earlier that same year, a similar attack occurred in the Western Region, where Forestry Commission officers attempting to halt illegal logging were attacked by thugs wielding machetes and other weapons.
Mr Essel said it was worrying that while the Forestry Commission was trying its best to protect the forest reserves with limited resources, the miscreants perpetrating crimes were getting more complicated in their mode of operation.
“The emotional and psychological toll on the remaining officers and their families is also immense, often leading to low morale and a reluctance to engage in high-risk operations,” he added.
Resource the guards
Mr Essel said there was the urgent need for the government to provide more resources and build the capacity of forest guards to be able to deal with the thuggery associated with galamsey. “At this point, we need body cameras to capture images that showcase the scale of these illegalities in our forest reserves for appropriate action to be taken,” he added.
Again, he said it was important for the government to consider setting up permanent military bases in hotspot areas to tighten the noose on the galamsey fight.
Mr Essel also stressed that there was the need for sustained education in local communities for the people to understand the destruction of forest reserves by illegal miners affects everyone, so there was the need for collective action to stem the tides.
“When they get this understanding and support us, no illegal miner can enter any forest reserve in this country and destroy it,” he said.
No insurance
Meanwhile, the Daily Graphic’s checks with the Forestry Commission revealed that there is currently no form of insurance package for members of the RRT and the forest guards who risk their lives to protect forest reserves.
The Chief Executive of the Commission, Dr Hugh Brown, explained that discussions were ongoing on the possibility of rolling out an insurance package for the forest guards.
“Our major challenge is the huge amount involved in rolling out the insurance package. We have about 2,100 forest and wildlife guards. Initially, we were looking at only the RRT but we also realised that we cannot do it for only members of the RRT and leave out the forest guards who are permanently protecting the reserves,” he said.
The Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Security and Counterterrorism, Emmanuel Mawanye Kotin, said the recurring attacks on forest guards underscored a significant security failure stemming from an insufficient political commitment.
“When forest guards confront armed gangs with superior weaponry, it reflects an asymmetric conflict and a lack of effective state intervention,” he stressed.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh