President John Dramani Mahama has admitted that illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, involves people across political, traditional and community structures, making the fight against the practice more difficult.
Speaking during a meeting with Organised Labour at the Jubilee House in Accra on Tuesday, March 17, President Mahama said galamsey had become deeply rooted in Ghanaian society and could not be blamed on one group alone.
According to him, the problem extends beyond criminal operators and includes some traditional rulers, political actors and other influential persons.
“Illegal mining has eaten into the fabric of our society. And I must say that it is not only a menace to our society, but it has involved a circle of traditional rulers, political party appointees and everything,” he said.
The President said the situation is worsened by the tendency of some illegal mining operators to align themselves with whichever political party is in power in order to continue their activities.
“Even when one party changes, those who were running some operation, who went to one party, will go to the next party and say, now that you have come, come and take over this operation and let’s share. We too will be getting small, this is what we are doing. And so I don’t kid myself that we don’t have our own people involved,” he stated.
President Mahama acknowledged that the work of the anti-illegal mining task force remains extremely difficult, especially in affected communities where local resistance often frustrates enforcement efforts.
He noted that task force members are sometimes confronted by chiefs, youth groups and residents who oppose their operations.
“And the work of the NAIMOS is not easy. They go to a community and the chiefs, the youth and everybody come out and resist them. And so I didn’t kid myself that we will be able to win that fight overnight. But we cannot relent, we must continue,” he said.
The President also linked the persistence of galamsey to challenges in Ghana’s cocoa sector. He explained that low prices paid to cocoa farmers had pushed some of them to abandon cocoa production and release their lands for gold mining.
“And it doesn’t help when we have crisis in the cocoa industry. The low price that was paid to cocoa farmers made some of them give up their farms for gold mining,” he noted.
He, however, expressed optimism that a new pricing mechanism being developed by government would help stabilise cocoa prices and reduce the incentive for farmers to turn to illegal mining.
“We are hoping that it will stabilize with the new automatic mechanism we are coming with so that farmers know that they are getting 70% of the price,” he said.
President Mahama further pointed to logistical challenges undermining the anti-galamsey campaign, particularly the lack of patrol boats and other equipment needed to secure rivers and forest reserves.
“One of the problems we have is we don’t have patrol boats, especially on our waterways for nine months to continue to patrol the waterways,” he explained.
He said government is working with the Ministries of Finance, Defence and the Interior to provide the resources needed to sustain the fight, including patrol equipment and support facilities for security personnel.
“So we are working with the minister of finance to be able to maintain that,” he said.