Ghana’s Galamsey Fight akin to Fetching Water With a Leaking Bucket without a state of emergency

Ghana is trying to put out a forest fire with a teaspoon. We are chasing a runaway train with flip-flops. Most poignantly, we are attempting to fetch water with a bucket that’s leaking from the bottom. That is exactly what our fight against prevailing unsustainable illegal small-scale mining, known locally as galamsey, has become.

No matter how many committees are formed, how many press conferences are held, or how many excavators are burned, the destruction continues. And not because there is no effort. But because the effort is being poured into a system that cannot hold water, broken, compromised, and leaking at every corner.

Ask yourself, would any reasonable person fetch water in a bucket with a gaping hole in it, hoping to cook, bathe, or survive the day? Of course not. That would be an exercise in futility. Yet that’s the exact situation Ghana finds itself in today. We are trying to resolve a full-blown national crisis with piecemeal actions that are not only insufficient but counterproductive when not backed by decisive force.

Galamsey is bleeding this country dry, literally and figuratively. Our rivers, once clean and life-giving, are now toxic veins of mercury and sludge. The Pra, Ankobra, Offin, Birim, etc. are shadows of what they used to be, choked by heavy metals and silt. Our forest reserves are stripped bare, farmlands rendered barren, and communities left to suffer strange diseases and rising poverty.

The underlying structure, meant to enforce change, the laws, the enforcement agencies, and the prosecution process in the galamsey fight is so compromised by corruption, inefficiency, and fear that even our most well-meaning interventions fall flat. Galamsey operators are emboldened by weak enforcement and political patronage. Local and foreign actors, some armed and dangerous, are ravaging the land with impunity. Let us be blunt, trying to fix this mess without first DECLARING A STATE OF EMERGENCY in the worst-hit areas is like patching that leaking bucket with chewing gum. It will not work. It cannot work. Likewise, it will not be sustainable in my candid view.

Declaring a state of emergency is not about panic. It is about control. It would immediately suspend all galamsey activity in designated zones, give security forces the authority they need to act without obstruction, and send a clear message to financiers, syndicates, and compromised officials that the game is up. Only then can we begin to repair the damage and rebuild the systems needed for long-term sustainability.

Once the flow of destruction is halted, we can re-engineer small-scale mining in a way that works, through better mining models, stricter licensing, and real accountability. But until that decisive pause is declared, we are simply refilling a leaking bucket, over and over again.

Ghana cannot afford to pretend any longer. We are running out of clean water. Out of fertile soil. Out of time. The only real question left is this: will we continue to patch the holes, or will we finally have the courage to fix the bucket?

Although I did put my last penny on President Mahama to fix this galamsey menace before the 2024 general elections, I am quite concerned about the almost missed opportunity to declare a state of emergency timeously. It is not too late for Mr. President to do the needful by declaring the state of emergency on galamsey for sustainable results.