Ghana ‘missed the boat’ in galamsey fight under President Akufo-Addo

Convenor of the One Ghana Movement, Senyo Hosi, says Ghana has “missed the boat” in the fight against illegal small-scale mining, popularly known as galamsey, due to political and economic considerations.

According to him, the country's opportunity to decisively tackle the menace came during the first term of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, when the government adopted measures to significantly restrict small-scale mining.

Speaking in an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV's The Point of View on Wednesday, September 30, Mr Hosi said the government subsequently scaled back its approach due to political considerations, leaving the country with a more difficult challenge.

“I've maintained that we missed the boat in the fight to stop galamsey with our default strategy, and that's sometime in former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's first term,” he said.

“I think he really put his presidency on the line when he promised that, but he gave that up and everything else is now history. We actually missed that particular boat.”

Mr Hosi said the situation had since deteriorated to a point where Ghana was “practically” at a point of no return.

He acknowledged that the former president's initial approach significantly affected small-scale mining but said political considerations eventually influenced the implementation of the policy.

“The fight was real, and the former president really stopped small-scale mining significantly, but there was also some realism that had to be adjusted to policy, and that was politics. And unfortunately, politics took sway over sustainable policymaking, and we are actually where we are,” he said.

Mr Hosi further argued that galamsey had become politically tolerated because of the consequences associated with confronting it, particularly in communities where illegal mining provides livelihoods.

He said concerns over the 2020 general election contributed to the scaling back of the Akufo-Addo administration's initial approach.

“Yes, it is politically tolerated because of the political consequences of fighting it as we ideally should, and that's what really got Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to sort of backtrack in his early fight,” he said.

“He was worried about his 2020 election. He had to take a step back. The NDC folks were taking advantage of his fight.”

Mr Hosi said political competition had continued to undermine efforts to tackle galamsey, arguing that opposition parties could use measures against illegal mining to their political advantage.

He also pointed to the economic dependence of mining communities on illegal mining, particularly amid youth unemployment and underemployment.

-citinewsroom