Beyond The Memorial Service For The Departed 8: What Has Been The Success Story In The Fight Against Galamsey?
Unfortunately, on August 6, 2025, Ghana lost eight gallant souls in a helicopter crash at Adansi Akrofuom. They were on a national assignment to fight galamsey. We held memorials, laid wreaths, sang hymns, and made promises.
One year on, the question every Ghanaian must ask is not just “do we remember them?” but “did their sacrifice change anything?”
1. The Memorials Were Beautiful. The Rivers Are Still Brown. We held state funerals. We named scholarships after the departed. We spoke about “legacy.”
But fly over the Pra, Ankobra, Offin, and Birim today, and you will still see the same brown, poisoned rivers. The excavators are still in the forest. The “red zones” declared by government are still being mined at night.
A memorial without results turns sacrifice into symbolism.
2. The “Success Stories” Government Is Selling.
Government communicators point to three things as wins:
- Taskforce Raids & Arrests: Thousands of excavators have been seized or burnt. Hundreds of small-scale miners have been arrested.
- GOLDBOD & Traceability: The creation of GOLDBOD to buy and sell gold, to cut out illegal buyers.
- Community Mining Schemes: The push to “formalize” galamsey into regulated community mining.
On paper, it sounds like action. On the ground, the impact is questionable.
3. The Hard Truth: Selective Justice and Political Protection.
This is where the success story collapses.
- Big Men Walk Free: The small-scale miner with a shovel is jailed. The politically connected financier with plenty of excavators gets a call to “move equipment before the task force comes.”
- Losses, Not Profits: According to IMF reports, GOLDBOD through BOG recorded $214m in losses in 2024, and projections for 2025 are worse at $1.7bn. How do you fight galamsey when the institution set up to manage our gold is losing billions?
- Water Bodies: GWCL and Water Research Institute reports still show turbidity levels in major rivers are above WHO standards. Treatment costs for water have doubled. That is not a success story.
4. What the Departed 8 Deserved
They did not die so we could hold an annual durbar. They died believing that political will would finally match the rhetoric.
How real success would look:
- Clean rivers that GWCL can treat without chemical overload.
- Profit, not loss, from our gold, to fund schools and hospitals.
- Alternative livelihoods for youth in mining communities, not just taskforce raids.
In conclusion, leadership must honor the gallant eight who lost their lives with action, not just flowers.
We owe the departed eight more than memorial services. We owe them a country where their death meant something.
Until we see equal justice, clean water, and accountability from institutions like GOLDBOD and BOG, the fight against galamsey will remain a public relations exercise.
Ghana cannot mourn forever and mine forever at the same time. One has to stop.
The best memorial is a clean river. The best tribute is a jailed galamsey kingpin. The best legacy is a Ghana that chose its future over quick money.
May the souls of the eight departed rest in peace.
By: Abdulai Abdul-Razak
Former Tamale South Constituency Communications Officer, NPP
abdulrazakabdulai940@gmail.com
Humble, compassionate, friendly and caring. Passion for writing on varied issues, especially politics.
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