The Irresponsible and Illegal Mining (IIM), which includes illegal mining ((galamsey), could well place this country in a state of peril. More and more water bodies are getting contaminated, by the day, with unacceptable levels of toxicity from heavy metals.
The soils are longer in arable state to produce wholesome food crops. Health wise, more and more babies are born with deformities. Cancer cases are rising in under-aged children and adults are contracting new diseases.
We have been frequently warned by the Ghana Water Company that it is getting more and more expensive to purify water. The Company may soon shut down. And so the situation is such that sooner, much, much sooner, potable water will have to be imported from neighbouring countries and that would include foodstuffs, as well.
During the previous administration, there was an uproar from the then opposition, NDC, against the Nana Addo led government for its reluctance in taking drastic measures to halt irresponsible and illegal mining, which had resulted into serious environmental degradation.
Among many demands to put an end to galamsey, was the demand for implementation of state of emergencies in all such areas. Calls for arrests and prosecutions of top personalities, like politicians, government officials and traditional leaders who are in the galamsey business, were very loud. Unfortunately, the then president seemed not to have heard of the cries of the opposition and suggestions it made.
So, upon arrival of the NDC into governance, many Ghanaians thanked God, for the end of galamsey was near. Rather, we are told of the value of galamsey in our economy. Our gold production had jumped up, strengthening our economy. And a stop to IIM, will throw four million youth out of employment. In other words, galamsey was good and profitable. But why did the NDC, when in opposition did not suggest this to the ruling NPP and to Ghanaians?
And by the way, as it is obvious that this present government supports galamsey and all forms of IIM, why should it drag some people to court for their past activities in IIM?
And can the government say that benefits from sales of galamsey gold, supersedes the setbacks from the destruction of our environment? It is like this. The youth in the family are breaking down the perimeter wall of the house and selling the debris to a one-man contractor who fills pot holes in the streets. Every evening, they bring home money and the elders praise them for that.
Instead of cautioning the youth to desist from breaking the wall, the adults support them, for money has started flowing. Soon, it will be the walls of the main house which will be broken. And the rest will be current affairs.
Soon and very soon, all our renewable resources in the form of cash crops will be destroyed. Let us look at the cocoa story.
Because of IIM activities, Ghana will lose her second place in world production of cocoa to Ecuador. By 2026, Ghana will become the third top producer of cocoa in the world and much sooner, we shall drop to the fourth. It will look like this: La Cote d’Ivoire (1st); Ecuador (2nd); Indonesia (3rd) and Ghana (4th).
In 1911, with 36,610 MT, Ghana became the world leading producer of cocoa and accounted for a third of the world’s production.
Ghana held on to this position until 1977 with a production of about 500,000 MT. The following year we dropped to 159,000 MT and lost the top position to La Cote d’Ivoire.
Our highest cocoa production was in 2020/21 season when we hit over one million MT. Meanwhile La Cote d’Ivoire recorded over two million MT that season. Then in the 2024/25 season, Ghana dropped down to 617,000 MT with our neighbours recording 1.7 million MT.
Today, Ecuador is just behind with 450,000 MT and by 2026/27, it will be producing 650,000 MT to become world’s second top producer.
As things are today in Ghana, galamsey or IIM has devastated large tracks of cocoa farms, which have been converted to galamsey sites. From the way things are going, by 2030, Ghana could drop to the position of the fifth top producer of the crop.
The question is, in the exploitation of gold, must we destroy our renewable resources, so that we will be left with nothing when our gold gets finished?
Government can go the Arab-way by nationalising production of gold, diamond, oil etc, etc., in our country. It is about time that we turn the tables round. Instead of receiving 10% from the multinationals, we will take a maximum 90%. With that we will make a lot of revenue to keep us from the Bretton Woods Institutes and also make us resourceful enough to lend money to other countries.
Today, we all talk about Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAR and others and admire how wealthy they are. If they had not nationalised their oil, they might not have gotten here.
Let us immediately halt all irresponsible and illegal forms of mining, nationalised our oil and minerals productions and make good money to take care of this country.
Hon. Daniel Dugan
