Director of Local Government Services at the Office of the President, Dennis Miracles, has said it would be difficult to rid the country of illegal mining as it is deeply-rooted into society.

He noted that the operation of illegal miners is that vast that an association has been created to aid their business.

According to Dennis Micracles, “galamsey in Ghana is like cocaine in Mexico and Colombia, it is a whole cartel."

He therefore said "it needs many years of hard work, many years of dedication, many years of education and years of trying to cause attitudinal change in the people," in order to get rid of the canker.

Successive government's have put in new initiatives and tried to enforce existing laws but the issue of galamsey continues to linger.

A recent report by the former Environment, Prof Frimpong-Boateng on the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), has suggested how some government officials have been fighting the initiatives to end galamsey.

Among those accused are the late Sir John born Mr Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, Joseph Albert Quarm, the former MP for Manso Nkwanta, Laud Commey, Charles Nii Teiko and Frank Asiedu Bekoe.

But a number of the accused have refuted the claims levelled against them. Mr Lord Commey has challenged the former minister to provide evidence to prove his case.