A Critical Analysis of Regulatory Framework Governing Ghana's Commercial Explosives Sector

Ghana's commercial explosives sector plays a critical role in supporting mining, quarrying, construction, and infrastructure development. However, the significant safety, environmental, and security risks associated with explosives necessitate a robust and effective regulatory regime. This study evaluates the adequacy and implementation of the Minerals and Mining (Explosives) Regulations, Act 703 (Amended, 2010, 2015, 2019), identifies regulatory and operational gaps, and proposes measures to enhance governance within the sector. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, the study combined documentary analysis with survey data collected from 200 respondents representing affected communities, explosives companies, regulatory authorities, security agencies, and civil society organisations. A purposively selected subset of respondents participated in key informant interviews, while qualitative data were analysed using NVivo and word-frequency analysis techniques. The findings indicate that L.I. 2177 establishes a broadly comprehensive regulatory framework covering licensing, competency certification, manufacturing, transportation, storage, record-keeping, emergency preparedness, and disposal of explosives. Despite this, 97% of respondents perceived the existing framework as inadequate, while 96.98% advocated for stronger regulatory attention to the environmental impacts of explosives operations. Key shortcomings identified include fragmented environmental oversight, limited institutional capacity, irregular inspections, weak enforcement mechanisms, reliance on manual inventory management systems, inadequate digital traceability, insufficient emergency preparedness exercises, poor inter-agency information sharing, and ineffective controls against the diversion of explosives.The study concludes that strengthening governance in Ghana’s commercial explosives sector requires comprehensive regulatory reform. It recommends the integration of explosives-specific environmental assessment requirements, digital supply-chain tracking systems, risk-based inspection regimes, enhanced sanctions for non-compliance, improved institutional coordination, and community-centred emergency preparedness measures to promote safety, accountability, and sustainable sector management.