Galamsey – a crude and manual process of extracting gold from mine waste (tailings) using rudimentary processes such as panning, has been part of Ghana’s mining history for centuries. The term emerged from the English phrase ‘gather them [gold waste] and sell.’ Over the decades, though, this traditional, almost harmless, subsistence artisanal mining method has taken on a different meaning. It has become synonymous with greed, a get-rich-quick mindset, environment degradation, water pollution, health hazards, organised crime, gun-running, narcotics trafficking, bribery, corruption, localised conflicts and the destruction of life and property.
On 18 January 2025, for instance, seven civilians died in a fatal clash between a phalanx of illegal miners (galamseyers) and a troop of soldiers guarding a mine belonging to AngloGold Ashanti in Obuasi, Ashanti Region. This was widely reported in Ghana’s local media. Some of the illegal miners wielded sophisticated weapons such as pump-action guns while others hurled crude missiles such as gas cylinders, axes and machetes at the soldiers in their attempt to invade the tightly guarded concession to undertake illegal small-scale mining. The miners, according to a statement from the Ghana Armed Forces, first, opened fire on the soldiers on guard. The troop returned fire in defence. One soldier sustained a gunshot wound but survived.
Four days after the deadly Obuasi galamsey clash, two armed groups of illegal miners invaded the Tano-Anwia forest reserve in the Aowin municipality of Ghana’s Western Region and fought to the death over rights to mine the protected area. Two people died in that clash. Futhermore, the marauding galamseyers attacked forestry personnel with machetes and bludgeoned others leaving them with life-threatening wounds. These are just the recent conflicts associated with galamsey, but there have been other alarming security concerns regarding galamsey. These include the influx of Chinese nationals into the ‘trade’ with sophisticated equipment that do extensive harm to the environment.
On 10 October 2024, Ghanaweb.com reported a clash between angry youth of Sekyere Krobo in the Western Region and some Chinese galamseyers who were busy mining in the Bonsa river along with their Ghanaian collaborators. Two locals were shot at by the Chinese miners in the melee.
In another clash between locals and Chinese miners at Sefwi Akontombra in the Western North Region, Citinewsroom.com reported that three anti-galamsey protesters were shot at as they marched along with their fellow demonstrators on 24 March 2024 against the devastating operations of Chinese galamseyers in the area. The protestors raised concerns about the destruction of the Fanoma river. They also set ablaze various mining equipment belonging to the illegal miners. In other crackdown incidents, special task forces set up by the government such as Operation Vanguard and Operation Halt have, on different occasions, seized and set ablaze several excavators, changfans and other mining equipment in the course of their work. Citi FM reported on 11 October 2024 that Operation Halt destroyed 10 Changfans, a pistol, and eight water-pumping machines on the Pra River in the Central Region during one of their crackdowns. It followed the burning of 30 pieces of mining equipment on the Birim River in the Eastern Region by the task force.
The localised galamsey conflicts and potpourri of security issues surrounding the menace, call for precise and proactive strategies to be put in place to ensure that ‘galamsey insecurity’ does not blow up into an uncontrollable threat to Ghana’s national and transnational security. Already, the country is struggling to fight off the devastating environmental pollution, degradation and destruction that result from galamsey as well as the health hazards and food insecurity that accompany it. Watching aloof for galamsey conflicts to get out of hand would be acquiescing to the setting ablaze of the entire country.
The Chinese angle of the problem is a poignant warning to Ghana about how the West African country is increasingly becoming a hub for international galamseyers as the illegal mining phenomenon is not peculiar to Ghana. For instance, countries such as Brazil (Bruno et al., 2020; Lobo et al., 2016), Colombia, Indonesia (Bruno et al., 2020), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Geenen, 2012; Hayes & Perks, 2012; Otamonga & Poté, 2020) have grappled with galamsey activities for years. Galamsyers are also found in Angola and South Africa. They are called Garimpo and Zama-Zamas, respectively. In Brazil, they are known as Garimpeiros. The Asian Journal of Toxicology, Environmental and Occupational Health in a paper titled: ‘An Ecological Study of Galamsey Activities In Ghana And their Physiological Toxicity,’ noted that some of the regions mentioned above share common characteristics with Ghana, including the prevalence of galamsey-like practices, limited government oversight, and inadequate enforcement of environmental regulations.
Should the governments or the authorities of Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, Angola, Indonesia or DRC manage to tighten the noose on galamsey, an exodus of international galamseyers could be making their way to Ghana – just as the Chinese have – and make the West African country their second home. When they do, they are likely to come along with human, sex and narcotic trafficking rackets, arms runners, and all shades of criminals into Ghana’s already-laden criminal ecosystem. This would be too much for Ghana to handle and could spell doom for the country’s democracy as some of these galamseyers are either part of, or have strong connections to international criminal gangs, networks or syndicates. This may lead to the hijack of democracy for self-serving nefarious purposes simply by sponsoring political parties and politicians into power and corrupting them to front their agenda. Eventually, local or international galamseyers or an amalgam of both would be those running our government and making laws for us through the corrupt representatives they may have successfully locked in their pockets.
It is high time the Ghanaian authorities realised that galamsey is not only a threat to our environment but also to our very existence, peace, security, and governance system. This realisation, perhaps, may jolt our leaders and the culprits out of the self-acquiesced lethargy of facing it frontally as though our very lives depended on winning that war. We must all be aware of the fact that for as long as galamsey keeps winning, we, the people of Ghana, keep losing and we cannot wait until we lose everything before doing everything we can to save ourselves from the destructive claws of galamsey. We, at the Centre for Intelligence and Security Analysis (CISA Ghana) strongly believe there is no better time to take decisive frontal action than now. It may be the last opportunity we have as a nation before the problem crosses the no-return borderline. Ghana may have already reached a tipping point, given the various allegations of political support, collusion and benefit from the proceeds of galamsey. It has been averred that politically connected individuals have received bribes, or gained support from communities involved in illegal mining. Citizens have made calls for government to take action with some of these government responses being inconsistent, poorly enforced or lacking commitment. Politically connected individuals have been cited for mining in forest reserves with little or no firm action from authorities. Efforts at addressing these challenges require a very firm and holistic approach emphasizing sustainable development practices which would balance the need for access to resources, natural resources protection and sustainable development. Unless firm and urgent action is taken the youth would take the law into their own hands and chart a course that would adversely affect access to potable water and overall health and wellbeing of the Ghanaian people.
