Lack of economic opportunities drive unskilled Ghanaian youth into galamsey — Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has said that the lack of economic opportunities in Ghana is driving many unskilled young people into illegal mining, known locally as galamsey.

He noted that this, along with other factors, makes the fight against the long-standing environmental menace a complex one but assured that his government remains committed to ending it.

Speaking at a meeting with the Catholic Bishops Conference of Ghana on Friday, May 23, the President revealed that an estimated 1.5 million young people are currently involved in both legal and illegal mining activities.

“But I must say that we are engaged in the fight. It’s a very complex fight. Unfortunately, because of the lack of economic opportunity, a lot of our young people who are unskilled have found themselves in illegal small-scale mining as an easy avenue to gain employment and make an income.

“So as I speak, it is estimated that anything between 1.5 million and above of our people are involved in that sector — either in artisanal small-scale mining, working for small-scale mining companies, or doing just what they call galamsey,” he stated.

President Mahama clarified that small-scale mining, in itself, is not illegal, as it is recognised by law and reserved for Ghanaians.

He said the real challenge is illegal mining, often worsened by foreign involvement.

He further blamed the worsening state of the galamsey crisis on the influx of excavators and chanfan machines, which have increased the rate of environmental destruction.

“The complication has been the foreigners who invaded the space and the new equipment they brought, which is able to destroy a huge acreage in a short time. They brought excavators, and they brought what they call chanfan machines. That was the beginning of our troubles,” he lamented.

The President also disclosed that 44 out of the country’s 288 officially declared forest reserves have already been encroached by illegal miners.

He said the remaining reserves have likely not been touched because they lack gold deposits.

“So our luck with the other forest reserves that have not been encroached is because there’s no gold in those reserves,” he noted.