My galamsey position and questions vindicated at long last!

“Who are buying the galamsey gold; who are those buying the illicit gold?” It was with great elation that I heard this fundamental question posed during a spirited discussion on “The ‘galamsey’ fight” on Ghana Television, on Sunday, September 8, 2024.

The programme was Talking Point, hosted by Prof Koryoe Anim Wright, and the panelists were Emeritus Professor Stephen Adei, and Dr. Ken Ashigbey, CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications and Chair of the Media Coalition Against Illegal Mining; and it was Dr. Ashigbey who had posed the above question.

Both were of the firm conviction that the devastation being caused by illegal mining warrants the immediate imposition of a State of Emergency, especially to protect Ghana’s water sources from the harmful chemicals used by the illegal miners.

The recent alarm raised by the Ghana Water Company Ltd over the state of the River Pra in the Central Region, coupled with news of recent deaths in galamsey pits, babies born deformed, as well as alarming social media pictures of the heavily polluted milky-cocoa-beverage colour of some rivers, had prompted the topic. An immediate response to the current growing calls from the public for decisive action by the Government to tackle galamsey was the well-publicised emergency meeting in Accra of regional ministers called by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, on Wednesday, September 11.

Reportedly, the meeting conclusions focused mainly on intensified, comprehensive actions by Regional Ministers and the Regional Security Councils against illegal mining, while instituting measures to assist illegal miners to earn a living sustainably. At a media dialogue the same day, Mr. Jinapor reportedly appealed for support from the media to combat the scourge and also emphasized the need to depoliticise the galamsey fight. There will be other consultations, with the security services and other bodies, he assured.

I was particularly interested in Mr Jinapor’s appeal for suggestions from the media, with the assurance that they would be factored in. Taking that cue, in addition to my 2017 question, I have two other ideas for consideration:

The second is that the Ministry’s consultations should be expanded even more, into a national forum, including meetings with representatives of: all the political parties; professional organisations; organised labour; religious bodies, as well as all those who have been voicing concern about the situation; and issuing industrial action ultimatums.

Some are even advocating the extreme action of banning mining, forgetting that there are also LEGAL miners, too in the equation, big companies and authorised small-scale ones.

In short, I’m suggesting made A NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON TACKLING

GALAMSEY/ILLEGAL MINING. After all, galamsey is a dangerous national problem that has defied resolution by successive governments; and its effects are harmful to all of us. Thus no one should be left out of the renewed solution finding.

Thus I believe that someone also to be included is Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and former chair of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining. In his controversial 2021 galamsey report, Prof Boateng had indicated that although there are Government appointees involved in responsible, authorised mining, there are others doing galamsey with Chinese frontmen.

Thirdly, Mr Jinapor, why not have a ‘Galamsey Hotline’? A toll-free telephone number would enable anybody in any part of Ghana with suggestions and tip-offs – hopefully, genuine alerts – to provide the information anonymously, without hassle – or fear of repercussions. My joy, prompted by the question above, was great because I had posed similar ones in an article in 2017 and as I had not had any reaction, I thought they must have been judged irrelevant. But now, some seven years later, here was no less a person than the chair of an organisation fighting galamsey who was asking similar questions!

The introduction of that 2017 article was: “There is a question that has been agitating my mind for some time. Why are they not being exposed, those at the other end of the galamsey scourge, the dealers who buy the gold for which the illegal miners risk so much?”

It continued: “Again, who are the people, or agencies, behind the scenes who evidently guarantee a ready market for those with illegal gold to sell? Surely, that must be the reason they appear to be in the grip of gold fever, determined to continue, no matter the danger to themselves and the communities.

“Little wonder the meaning of ‘galamsey’, or illegal small-scale mining, is said to be a corruption of the expression ‘gather them and sell’. (‘The missing link in the galamsey war equation’, Thoughts of a Native Daughter column, The Mirror Weekly, July 21, 2017.) My article concluded with: “Why not also deal with the clients of the galamseyers? …Why do we never hear of measures against the destination of their gold?”

But that was just one of the many, long-time anti-galamsey offensives being waged by the media. For example, my senior colleague, Mr Cameron Duodu, has been a leading, passionate anti-galamsey campaigner for years. However, recent news about the relentless terrible destruction of rivers, the cocoa industry, farm

lands and the environment underscore the urgency of more pragmatic, comprehensive approaches.

Doubtless, that is why Prof Adei’s recent call at an event in Accra on September 4 for Presidential intervention, continues to generate vigorous discussion.

He elaborated on this in the GTV programme: “You will weep! Never, never in the history of modern civilization has any people allowed such destruction! It’s a gargantuan political leadership failure!

“And here I’m not talking about one party. It was there I the time of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). In fact, in 2020, some NDC people campaigned in the (galamsey) area that ‘we will allow you to continue (if we win the election)’. “But of course, the main responsibility rests with the (ruling) New Patriotic Party. (After the NDC left), (the galamseyers) have taken it to the highest level. It’s a political failure: district assemblies, the regional people, the party leadership ….

Chiefs, too, were not left out. He noted that instead of the traditional description of chiefs as “custodians of the land”, now some of them are “supervisors of the destruction of the land!” (For the record, significantly, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II recently destooled three chiefs over their involvement in galamsey.) Prof Adei recalled that during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a three-week lockdown (in 2020). Similarly, “It’s time for us to declare a national emergency. The reason is that it gives the President all the authority to act ultra vires. “We’re talking about the death of a nation!”

Noted for his bluntness, he said the President’s leadership during Covid “was excellent”, but “on the galamsey, he’s a total failure, and he must redeem himself!”

Dr Ashigbey, too, didn’t mince his words. He referred to a recent comment by the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, that he knows that some Members of Parliament are involved, and wondered why the Speaker didn’t have those MPs arrested. To him, there should be a State of Emergency over all of Ghana’s waterways. Furthermore, a major impediment to the fight can be attributed to some politicians, because “galamsey money is funding political activities!” he said.

Dr Ashigbey went further: “Enough is enough! You see, complicit in all of this, who are buying the gold? Apart from the Chinese … they’re from all over! Because some of those from West Africa know they can’t do that in their countries, because of the repercussions, they come to our country to come and do it!

“Who are those buying the illicit gold? We go to Dubai and find out that the official gold we exported is far less than the gold that has come to them! So we also need our international partners to support us, to stop buying the dirty gold, the blood gold!” Dr Ashigbey said. President Akuffo-Addo’s memorable statement in 2017, that “I’m prepared to put my presidency on the line” in the galamsey fight has often been quoted to back accusations of his alleged failure to combat it. Not surprising, seeing the continuing impunity of the illegal miners, some of whom even post pictures of themselves at work, with cheeky, defiant captions.

But isn’t it true that the Government has tried different ways to tackle the menace, even going as far as burning illegal miners’ excavators and other equipment and banning changfans; with scores prosecuted and some in prison?

Nevertheless, I find the widespread expressions of concern encouraging and patriotic. What we seem to be short of are suggestions as to what exactly can be done to stop galamsey, hence the need for wider consultations. After all, gold mining in Ghana dates back centuries, the reason for the country’s original name the Gold Coast, and our waters were safe until now.

But surely, the chiefs and people in the affected communities do know who the galamseyers are! Thus the communities too have an important role in the fight.

In 2019, the then Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Shi Ting Wang memorably and embarrassingly pointed out in a widely reported statement that no foreigner can come to Ghana and engage in illegal gold mining without the active assistance of Ghanaians.

Speaking in Cape Coast, Mr Shi said: “We don’t know where your gold is. We don’t issue visas too for the Chinese people coming to Ghana. Ghanaians issue the visas. Ghanaians aid the Chinese to where they can find your gold.

“Why are Chinese not doing illegal mining in South Africa where there is also a lot of gold...because they cannot do that there and the locals don’t support such illegalities,” he stated.

Surely, these haunting comments should be vital clues, helpfully provided by someone whose compatriots are allegedly part of the galamsey problem, for action to begin – or stepped up! Interestingly, the Ambassador’s biting, though diplomatic pointers, were made in the Central Region, the region whose recent galamsey headlines have led to the current agitations.

I believe that if the galamsey war is to be won, the committed collaboration and participation of the communities is required as part of a comprehensive battle plan, notably including prosecuting even political heavyweights involved.

And I still hold the view that whatever plan is put in place, one of its components has to be tackling the agents and the buyers of the illegal gold, the galamsey gold. Conceivably, for as long as there are buyers and a ready market, there will be ‘desperados’ willing to risk their lives– as well as the lives of all of us – propelled by their gold fever.