Gold Chains and Watches Won’t Save Us: Iterating the 4Rs for Ghana’s Galamsey Battle

Ghana, once known as "the Land of Gold" due to its legal gold production and Trans-Saharan trade, is currently grappling with illegal mining, aka Galamsey. Under the Fourth Republic, politicians have danced between legislative revocations and military deployments, but neither has proven sustainable. Currently, a performance of power emerges with a few arrests, drones hovering briefly, soldiers on riverbanks, and then a quiet retreat, as excavators return. The truth is simple but damning. Illegal miners' obsession with minerals is burying Ghana’s future in funerals.

Galamsey activities in Ghana have significantly destroyed the country's natural beauty, causing deforestation, habitat destruction, water pollution, and soil degradation. This has led to the loss of aquatic biodiversity in various regions, including Tontokrom, Kyekyewere/Akropong, and Tarkwa Nsuam. The Water Resources Commission (WRC) reports that 60% of water bodies in Ghana are polluted due to illegal mining and other activities. Professor Sampon Antwi, President of the Ghana Kidney Association (GKA), warns illegal miners to be wary of the implications of heavy metal use in mining, as it is linked to rising cases of chronic kidney disease directly from polluted rivers with high concentrations of mercury, arsenic, and lead.

These are not abstract dangers—they are evidence of policy failure. And yet, the top officials continue to flaunt gold chains and watches at ceremonies, rallies and events while the communities where the minerals are dug sink into sickness, ruin and death. It is this hypocrisy that forces us to ask: what if we stripped away the gimmicks and reset the fight using the 4Rs—Revoke, Reset, Reorient, and Restart?

1. Revoke

The first step must be honesty. Existing licenses issued under dubious circumstances must be revoked, and loopholes that allow large-scale companies to launder Galamsey through subcontracting need to be shut. The more than 900 licenses presently under investigation ought to undergo public scrutiny, with all unlawfully obtained licenses being revoked. Revoking such licenses is not radical; it is compliance with our own laws. Without this, enforcement becomes a charade, punishing the powerless while shielding the top official financiers.

2. Reset

Policy must be reset to focus on prevention rather than episodic military crackdowns. The Minerals Commission’s reliance on drones to curb illegal mining and enhance oversight across the country’s mineral-rich regions shows a bold reset step. A reset means embedding technology into monitoring through partnerships with independent institutions, universities, and local communities that can provide verifiable, transparent oversight. It also requires resourcing the district assemblies, too often sidelined, to lead in prevention.

3. Reorient

The national conversation must shift from short-term gold revenue to long-term ecological and human survival. According to the Ghana Gold Board, Ghana’s “total gold export earnings from January to April 2025 have surpassed $2.7 billion, significantly exceeding the $2.19 billion recorded for the entire year of 2023” (Ghana Gold Board-GoldBod, 2025), but at what cost? The destruction of cocoa farms due to Galamsey has resulted in export losses that are already projected to reach millions each year. Reorienting requires integrating environmental economics into national budgeting. It also demands cultural re-education: making illegal mining socially unacceptable, the same way road accidents from drink-driving became a national scandal.

4. Restart

Finally, Ghana must restart the fight with a new compact. Government, chiefs, local communities, and civil society must collaborate, not compete. Past efforts collapsed because chiefs were ignored, or citizens were treated as enemies rather than stakeholders. In places like the Eastern Region, community-led river guard initiatives have shown promise, but lack consistent state backing. Restarting means making community participation central, not peripheral, to the strategy.

The stakes could not be clearer. The destruction of Atewa Forest, the poisoning of the Pra and Ankobra rivers, and the choking of farms in Amansie and Wassa are not isolated tragedies but national crises. To continue with business as usual is to mortgage our children’s right to clean water and fertile land. “We cannot wear gold watches to funerals caused by poisoned rivers.” The fight against Galamsey requires more than bravado. It requires humility, science, honesty, and above all, political courage. The 4Rs offer a framework not just to manage illegal mining but to redefine national priorities. It is not about minerals over funerals, or about soldiers versus miners; it is about whether Ghana chooses survival over spectacle.

Bright Kwadwo Oduro is a teaching and research assistant and columnist dedicated to exploring issues related to development and film as a tool for education, policy engagement, and civic transformation. He writes the weekly series “Film as a Developmental Tool in Ghana”.

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