The good, the bad and the ugly: The galamsey tale

Though there exist laws on small scale mining, according to the 2008 Ghana Chamber of Mines report, illegal mining activities (galamsey) have been increasing with an estimated number between 300,000 and 500,000 artisan miners comprising one of the largest groups of illegal miners on the continent.

People now do not even operate on a ‘hit and run’ operation but in daylight.

This basically sums up the import of a paper delivered by the President of the Certified Institute of Economists of Ghana (ICEG), Professor Peter Tuffuor Asubonteng, as part of the growing concern surrounding the menace.

The Professor quotes the World Bank Group which notes that “small-scale mining is largely a poverty-driven activity, typically practiced in the poorest and most remote rural areas of the country by a largely itinerant, poorly educated populace with few employment alternatives”.

On the impact of the activity on the nation, Professor Asubonteng observed that the nation loses a lot of revenue as a result of the activities of galamseyers because while destroying the environment and water resources and claiming lives of many, galamsey activities do not bring revenue to the nation, unlike large-scale mining.

Rather, the nation spends large sums of money to return the destroyed water bodies and lands to its proper shape, even though the galamseyers pay nothing to the state and make no effort to restoring the lost environment.

“Despite the many negatives and destructive nature of galamsey operations, the practice has thrived and persisted over the last decade. This is because those tasked with the responsibility of protecting the environment and upholding the laws to the latter are either sleeping on their jobs or are complicit in the very act.

State officials, politicians, chiefs, security agencies, the EPA, Forestry Commission, Minerals Commission, opinion leaders, religious leaders, investors and foreigners have been complicit in the rise of galamsey”.

Asubonteng blamed the preponderance on individuals in rural areas realizing that companies mining there were not helping the communities enough, these companies did very little to terms of their corporate social responsibility.

And since most rural folk know where to find gold, feeling cheated by these large mining companies, they immediately turned to illegal mining as a means of survival.

Prof Asubonteng believes chiefs and opinion leaders must do more to tackle the menace, since it is affecting educational standards negatively in these rural areas, with the youth preferring to engage in illegal mining rather than getting education, due to financial gains they derive from ‘galamsey’.

Farmers in cocoa growing areas are giving their lands out for ‘galamsey’, due to financial reasons. In the long run this will affect cocoa production and reduce foreign exchange earned, he lamented.

The CEO of the ICEG, Gideon Amissah, added that the rate at which illegal mining is gaining ground, if not tackled, will make it practically impossible for Ghana to achieve its UN Sustainable Development Goals Two, Three, and Six which states Ghana should end hunger, achieve food security , good nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. Goal 3 also states Ghana as a country should maintain a healthy life, and promote wellbeing in all sectors.

While Goal Six talks about availability and sustainable management clean water and good sanitation for all. According to him looking at what galamsey is doing to our water bodies and our environment, achieving these sustainable development goals will be a mountain to climb.

Civil Society, Chiefs, Churches, should all come on board to solve this problem, he said. He suggested the country also takes galamsey fight to rural areas where the action is really happening, and educate people on the effects and dangers of the galamsey activity.

Instead of restricting the fight to urban areas since the rural folk need to be educated on the ills of the activity in spite of its lucrative nature. Professor Asubonteng believes since it is Ghanaians involved mainly in the activity, the action should consider alternative livelihood like employing the youth in the proposed one district, one factory project even if they are not skilled.

He believes with time, they would pick up the basic skill and contribute to the project while earning a living. Merely chasing them out of the activity without giving them alternative livelihood could drive them into crime since they have already experienced the taste for money.