The New Civil War in Ghana: Galamsey in the Soil, Red in the Streets

The flag of Ghana features four distinct colors, with the color red being sacred on Ghana’s flag. Therefore, it honours the blood of those who fought for independence. But today, Red is being desecrated in two ways. First, in the soil, it seeps through poisoned rivers and scarred farmlands where Galamsey ravages the earth. Second, on the streets, it surfaces in sachets and bottles as a lethal drug cocktail called Red, crippling Ghana’s youth. Together, they form an equation of doom: Galamsey + Red = Ghana’s nightmare.

Illegal mining, also known as Galamsey, is stripping Ghana bare. For instance, forest reserves are disappearing, rivers such as the Pra and Ankobra are becoming polluted, and cocoa farms, which are essential to our agricultural economy, are being replaced by lucrative mining operations. The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources reports that over 5,252 hectares of land have been destroyed, and 44 of our 288 reserves have been degraded. Each year, Ghana forfeits approximately $2 billion in taxes and royalties, funds that could be used to construct schools, hospitals, drainage systems and roads. Instead, excavators return as quickly as they are seized, because financiers remain untouchable. Minerals, once a blessing, have become a funeral dirge.

Meanwhile, in ghettos and even secondary schools, Red is spreading like wildfire. This cheap, potent mix of tapentadol and carisoprodol is easy to find, easier to abuse, and devastating in effect. The Ghanaian youth take it to hustle longer, dance harder, or escape despair. But it leaves behind addiction, mental collapse, and wasted potential. Reports from the Ghana Education Service and Food and Drugs Authority link over 60% of student drug cases to opioids like tramadol, with many youths unaware of what they are ingesting.

Two crises, one pattern: short-term profit for a few, long-term destruction for the nation. Both thrive on political gimmicks and selective enforcement. On Galamsey, it’s the empty ritual of license revocations and security raids that change nothing. On drugs, it’s glossy campaigns and pamphlets that never reach the ghettos. Ghana is bleeding twice, lands are poisoned, and the youth are wasted, while leaders dance between soundbites.

However, collapse is not an inevitable fate. We know what must be done. On Galamsey, the path forward is the 4Rs: Revoke, Reset, Reorient, Restart. Revoke licenses transparently, not selectively. Reset institutions with high-end technology, such as drones, AI, and satellite

monitoring, to expose both illegal miners and their political protectors. Reorient livelihoods by formalizing small-scale miners into cooperatives and investing in agroforestry. And Restart communities with clean water, health interventions, and a Land Restoration Trust.

On the drug menace, pamphlets will not save us. Film can make a difference. Stories reach where statistics cannot. A gripping short film about a teenager seduced and destroyed by Red can do more than a thousand lectures. Imagine such films screened in schools, streamed on all social media platforms, and projected from mobile vans in at-risk communities. Throughout Africa, visual storytelling has ignited change, exemplified by Nigeria’s Sweet Sweet Codeine documentary and South Africa’s educational series in schools. Ghana possesses remarkable talent. What we are missing is the foresight to finance and implement it as a community resource.

The nightmare equation is stark: Galamsey + Red = Ghana’s Nightmare. However, the equation can be adjusted. If Red once meant sacrifice, let us reclaim it, not overdose, but resistance. If minerals were once blessings, let us restore them to prosperity, not funerals. Ghana stands at a crossroads. Poisoned rivers or living waters? Wasted youth or empowered generations? The political dance may dazzle on TV, but in poisoned villages and broken homes, it is hollow. The cost of inaction already exceeds the cost of bold reform.

The question is not whether Ghana can act. The question is whether it will. Which Red will define our future, the blood of sacrifice, or the stain of destruction?

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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