President John Dramani Mahama has dismissed allegations that excavators are secretly being released from the Tema Port at night, clarifying that the movement of these machines is part of a decongestion strategy to free up port space.

Speaking during a media engagement on Wednesday, September 10, President Mahama explained that the government is strictly enforcing laws that require dealers to obtain permits before importing excavators into the country.
“In the meantime, a lot of excavators have arrived at the port, and recently, somebody said they were being released at midnight to their owners. That’s not true,” President Mahama said.

He acknowledged that the influx of excavators had overwhelmed the port's storage capacity, prompting the authorities to temporarily move the machines to a secured site near a military installation to alleviate congestion.
“And they do that in the night because of traffic in the daytime. So in the night, they have the pay-loaders moving the excavators out of the port to the designated areas where they are supposed to be held,” he explained.

President Mahama explained that no excavator is allowed to leave the holding site without fulfilling strict requirements, including registration, installation of tracking devices, and verification of ownership and intended use.

While the government is committed to combating illegal mining, the President clarified that it cannot impose a blanket ban on excavator imports. He pointed out that licensed large-scale mining companies and the construction sector rely on these machines for legitimate operations.
"We want to know who is importing the excavators, who it is going to, we want to be able to put a tracker on it and be able to trace that excavator wherever it is in the country," he said.