President John Dramani Mahama has acknowledged that illegal mining, widely referred to as galamsey, involves individuals across political and traditional structures, warning that efforts to curb the practice will be difficult but must persist.
Speaking at a meeting with Organised Labour at the Jubilee House on Tuesday, the President said the menace has deeply infiltrated Ghanaian society, complicating the fight against it.
“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,” President Mahama said.
He explained that operators often shift allegiance with changes in government, enabling the practice to continue. “Even when one party changes, those who were running some operation… 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 added.
President Mahama acknowledged the challenges faced by the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Taskforce (NAIMOS), particularly in communities resistant to intervention. “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.
Linking the surge in illegal mining to difficulties in the cocoa sector, he noted that low producer prices have driven some farmers to abandon cocoa farming 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 explained.
The President expressed optimism that stabilising cocoa prices through a new automatic pricing mechanism—ensuring farmers receive 70% of the global price—would discourage them from turning to illegal mining.
He also highlighted logistical challenges confronting anti-galamsey operations, particularly the lack of patrol equipment for monitoring 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 said, adding that the government is coordinating with the Finance, Defence, and Interior ministries to provide the necessary resources.
“So we are working with the minister of finance to be able to maintain that,” President Mahama concluded.
