'Galamsey driving the profits GoldBod is making' - Dr Zaato asserts

Senior Lecturer and Political Analyst, Dr Joshua Jebuntie Zaato, has asserted that illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, is the primary driver of the profits being recorded by the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod).

Speaking on Joy News’ AM Show on August 20, 2026, Dr Zaato, who also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Africa Policy Institute (API), linked the institution’s financial performance directly to ongoing illegal small‑scale mining activities across the country.

“I’ve seen everybody fixated on 1.7 billion. That’s a rather narrow and myopic look at the cost involved, because I want to highlight another cost that is there,” Dr Zaato said.

“Galamsey and the gold board, and everything connected to it — is running on the back of galamsey. The catalyst for the profits the gold board has made is rooted in galamsey. Galamsey is the driving force behind what is happening here,” he added.

He pointed to page seven of the report, which notes that AGCM gold mining is generating significant environmental degradation that increasingly carries major macroeconomic costs.

“It’s called galamsey. When you read that, I say Ghana must bow its head in shame. Basically, the report is telling us that galamsey activities and the associated environmental destruction are destroying our future. It is destroying our forests, poisoning our rivers, contaminating our food, and poisoning our food chain,” he stressed.

Dr Zaato warned that the consequences of galamsey extend beyond the environment to public health.

“The fish and everything we consume are giving us cancers. This media house has done work with Diya Muhammad and has enumerated the environmental and health consequences of this practice,” he noted.

His remarks come amid intense public and political debate over GoldBod’s operations, its reported surpluses, and the parallel losses recorded by the Bank of Ghana under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.

“Galamsey is driving the profits GoldBod is making.” — Dr. Joshua Jebuntie Zaato, Senior Lecturer & Political Analyst, Senior Fellow, API.#AMShow pic.twitter.com/cX4ZN96ggY

— JoyNews (@JoyNewsOnTV) August 20, 2026