…The rivers are dying, the farms are gasping, and the unborn are left to drink and eat from the sins of their ancestors.
By Professor Douglas BOATENG
It begins as a pit in the earth but ends as an open grave of poisoned rivers, contaminated farmlands, a public health crisis, and compromised national sovereignty. Ghana’s illegal gold mining crisis, known locally as Galamsey, has long since morphed beyond a criminal economy. What started as artisanal panning has grown into a conservatively estimated billion-dollar shadow industry.
Armed with excavators, mercury, drones, and foreign financing, Galamsey now extends beyond environmental degradation. It is hollowing out rural economies, undermining institutions, and jeopardising the future of Ghana’s next generation. Despite years of high-profile task forces, Operation Vanguard, Halt, NAIMOS and thousands of arrests since 2016, the devastation persists. The machines return. The rivers darken. And the people continue to suffer. The uncomfortable truth? The government cannot win this war alone. This is not just a law enforcement challenge. It is a societal failure, a governance vacuum, and a humanitarian emergency whose cost will be paid most painfully by the unborn.
Polluted waters, contaminated lands – the consequences for tomorrow
In Ghana’s Eastern and Western regions, rivers such as the Birim, Pra, Ankobrah, and Offin have become channels for sludge, mercury, and cyanide. The Ghana Water Company warns that the country may soon be forced to import clean water. Craters replace cocoa farms. Cattle herders search for safe watering spots. Fishing communities net silt. Boreholes yield chemically contaminated water. When water is undrinkable and soil is infertile, no food grows, no meat survives, and no nation stands. Ghana, once a regional symbol of food and water security, is edging dangerously close to ecological insolvency.
Foreign hands, local assistance and silence
The most painful irony is this: the worst perpetrators could never commit such acts in their own countries. Foreign-backed syndicates, often better resourced than local law enforcement, violate Ghana’s environmental integrity in ways unthinkable under the laws of their own countries. But they do not operate in isolation. The sad and unfortunate reality is that a network of local, complex, and self-serving collaborators enables them:
- Citizens who stay silent out of fear or financial gain
- Chiefs who lease sacred land
- Security officers who turn a blind eye
- Politicians who benefit from the proceeds
The inconvenient truth – These foreign actors will depart with full pockets. Ghana will remain behind with poisoned wells, collapsing ecosystems, and a generation born into illness. This is not merely illegal mining. It is the commodification of Ghana’s soul, exported piece by piece for someone else’s wealth.
The unseen cost – a major long-term health crisis in the making
Across mining regions, clinics report increasing cases of mercury poisoning, respiratory illnesses, miscarriages, and neurological damage, especially among children and pregnant women. These toxins won’t appear at polling stations, but they will show up in special-needs classrooms, overstretched hospitals, and across generations of poverty. Galamsey isn’t just damaging the terrain; it is quietly altering the nation’s biology. This isn’t merely a rural problem; it’s a national breakdown. Ghanaians may not see the full cost now, but in twenty years, hospitals, schools, and the economy will feel the burden of our neglect.
Illegality cannot be solved by the government alone
Intent is not the problem. From President Kufuor’s early concerns to President Mahama’s directives and President Akufo-Addo’s vow to stake his presidency, and again under President Mahama, governments have tried and continue to give it their best shot. Operations have been launched. Equipment seized. Statements made. Yet within weeks, the same sites reopen.
Galamsey survives not because of a lack of law, but because it thrives in the spaces between policy and practice, protected by patronage, desperation, and silence. No bulldozer can uproot complicity. No law alone can erase systemic apathy. The real fight lies in civic morality and collective courage. This crisis will not be resolved from Accra. It must be fought in the villages, churches, schools, and chief palaces.
The key to stamping out this criminality is a citizen-government partnership
The government can’t stop Galamsey alone; it’s now embedded in Ghana’s social economy, driven by poverty, greed, materialism, and silenced, with fragmented accountability protecting it. If just 300,000 Ghanaians (~1% of the population) mobilised as whistleblowers and community defenders, it could disrupt the criminal ecosystem. Alerts, tips, reclamation, and exposure; these are acts of citizenship.
When citizens lead, change happens
In 2023, a teacher in the Ashanti Region filmed Galamsey activity near a school. The footage went viral. Within days, the operation was shut down. In the Western Region, a grandmother rejected a GHS 5,000 bribe and reported a night-time syndicate. Their equipment was seized. In Upper Denkyira, youth barricaded access routes and turned a destroyed pit into a plantain farm. These victories were not engineered by the government. They were acts of ordinary people rising above fear and fatigue.
Traditional authority – between reverence and relevance
Chieftaincy remains one of Ghana’s most revered institutions. However, it is at risk of becoming irrelevant. No stool should lease ancestral land to destroy it. No palace should shield perpetrators. No elder should claim ignorance. A chief who profits from Galamsey is not preserving culture. He is auctioning it. It is time for the chieftaincy to reclaim its moral capital not through ritual alone, but through custodianship of water, land, and posterity.
The economic mirage
Some defend Galamsey by citing unemployment. But the trade-offs are devastating:
- Jobs that poison workers
- Income that destroys forests
- Gold that fuels corruption
This is not development. It is short-term cannibalism and criminality promoted by the self-serving short-termist and the ignorant as a solution to unemployment and poverty. And when the gold is gone? They will leave with full pockets. Ghana will stay with poisoned wells, broken forests, and children born into sickness.
The global investment dimension
For Ghana, one of Africa’s largest gold producers and a key player in cocoa and critical minerals, the implications extend beyond the environment. Investors are paying close attention. As ESG metrics increasingly influence global capital flows, Ghana risks reputational damage that could discourage responsible investors.
Multinationals involved in extractives or agriculture face social licence risks if they are seen to operate near or profit from illegal activities. Export partners, particularly in Europe, are tightening supply chain traceability laws, such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Galamsey also jeopardises the AfCFTA ambitions by eroding trust in cross-border regulatory frameworks. The real risk? Ghana could become a warning example of resource-rich nations losing control over their natural assets.
The price of inaction is calculable and catastrophic
If current trends persist:
- Ghana may spend over US$2 billion annually on water purification by 2035
- Cocoa exports could decline by 30percent, destabilising rural economies
- Mercury and cyanide exposure could spark a multibillion-dollar public health disaster
- Climate resilience will vanish as forest cover erodes and river systems collapse
And when the gold is gone? What will remain are poisoned rivers, infertile land, hollowed economies, and futures traded for foreign profit at the expense of Ghanaians.
From spectators to stakeholders – citizenship reimagined
Governance is not the government’s job alone. It is a shared moral contract.
- Teachers must teach sustainability, not silence
- Religious leaders must preach stewardship, not indifference
- Journalists must expose, not excuse
- Chiefs must lead, not lease
- Citizens must hold leaders and themselves accountable
A nation does not only die when its rivers dry and lands get polluted, but when its people no longer care.
A new governance model – bottom-up, not top-down
Galamsey presents a warning and a model for African governance. It proves the limits of centralised solutions and the power of local legitimacy. Imagine:
-
Each District Assembly hosting youth-led reclamation squads
-
Public environmental dashboards tracking degradation and enforcement
-
Restoration funds co-financed by the state and community, monitored transparently
This is not idealism. It is strategic realism in a context where state capacity must be matched by civic muscle.
Conclusion – reclaiming a nation from within
This is not just a call to action. It is a call to conscience. Enough talk. Enough platitudes. Enough silence. Let the teacher speak. Let the chief act. Let the mother protest. Let the youth organise. Let the journalist expose. Let the citizenry punish. Because the boardroom is too far. The village is too near. The river is too sacred. The land must be protected. And the time is too short. Let history not record that we watched our rivers die and lands polluted while foreign criminal syndicates and local self-centred lawbreakers thrived. Let it say that we rose not with weapons, but with will. That we reclaimed not just the land, but our dignity. That we fought not just for gold, but for Ghana. And let it be said that when the unborn child cried from the future, we answered.
>>>the writer is a globally celebrated thought leader, Chartered Director, industrial engineer, supply chain management expert, and social entrepreneur known for his transformative contributions to industrialisation, procurement, and strategic sourcing in developing nations.
As Africa’s first Professor Extraordinaire for Supply Chain Governance and Industrialization, he has advised governments, businesses, and policymakers, driving sustainability and growth. During his tenure as Chairman of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) and Labadi Beach Hotel, he led these institutions to global recognition for innovation and operational excellence. He is also the past chairman of the Public Procurement Authority.
A prolific author of over 90 publications, he is the creator of NyansaKasa (Words of Wisdom), a thought-provoking platform with over one million daily readers. Through his visionary leadership, Professor Boateng continues to inspire ethical governance, innovation, and youth empowerment, driving Africa toward a sustainable and inclusive future.
