Solving the ‘galamsey’ menace by Dr Ishmael Nii Amanor Dodoo
Today, the illegal artisanal mining called ‘galamsey’ has become a menace, an existential threat to the Republic of Ghana. What started as a source of livelihood for many young Ghanaian and, an income stream for government, has become a scar in the conscience of the highest echelons of political leadership due to the devastated impacts it has had on human lives, health and environmental resources.
One may ask, why are we here? In the 1990s, the quest for diversifying the Ghanaian economy to broaden its income stream saw the enactment of legal instruments for issuing licences for artisanal miners to engage in small scale mining operations. The artisanal miners were to exist side by side with large scale mining concessioners; in some cases feeding off from ‘old’ concessions.
Operating under a controlled environment, subscribing to rule of laws, respecting concession boundaries, managing environmental impacts and operating within the confines of the social requirements of communities of operations, artisanal mining became one of the surest way to boost small scale and medium enterprises within the natural resources sector. A very lucrative and fine business then.
The artisanal mining became something else when it metamorphosed its name to ‘galamsey’ following the involvement of political stalwarts and high cash handed Chinese businessmen and women who came in with funds and capacity for massive extraction of minerals symptomatic of pillaging. The ‘galamseyors’ targeted all possible sources of gold-forest estates, cocoa farms, agricultural farms stead, watersheds, and river sources.
By 2016, the supply chains on the market had become extremely sophisticated, with players that are untouchable. The players include powerful licensed agents and issuers, highly connected politicians, wealthy Chinese businessmen, mayors, parliamentarians, community elders, members of the security sector and some traditional chiefs. To the extent that even the pronouncements of the president to marshal security forces as the commander in chief of the armed forces did not deter the players of the supply chain.
Health impacts of ‘galamsey’ are dreadful
Today, ‘galamsey’ has gravely destroyed all of our major rivers that supply fishery and water resources to over 15 million population of Ghanaians. Especially, rivers Pra and Offin have attained toxic levels too dangerous for consumption by WHO standards.
These rivers contain metalloids, such as lead, cadmium, copper, arsenic, mercury, iron, and zinc, making it unsuitable for domestic use. The tributaries of these rivers have carried these pollutants all over the country, affecting river streams in several regions, including now Greater Accra region. As a result, Ghana is facing significant challenges related to access to clean water. About 25% of the population lacks access to clean water, and the country is moving towards water stress.
In addition to diminishing water access, the health impacts of ‘galamsey’ are dreadful. Some physical health impacts include mercury poisoning. Exposure to mercury used in gold extraction causes neurological damage, kidney damage, and birth defects. Heavy metal contaminations like lead, arsenic, and cadmium in water and soil cause various health issues, including cancer, respiratory problems, and organ damage.
There have been reports of these polluted water sources leading to increased risk of cholera, typhoid, and diarrhoea. Dust and chemical exposure also cause respiratory issues, such as silicosis and bronchitis. With soils contaminated by toxic metals, Ghana will be threatened by food insecurity.
The impact on environmental resources cannot be overstated
Already the country has not recovered from post COVID-19 food production impacts as well as recent effects of climate variability. Recent evidence of heavy metal presence in cocoa beans and food products such as yams and cassava points to the looming grave consequences of staples shortages for the country.
In essence, what are citizens going to do? Are we going to rely a hundred percent on food imports? This is a possibility with serious ramifications for foreign exchange and the ever depreciating CEDI currency.
The impact on environmental resources cannot be overstated. Contaminated river bodies and soils meant that a wide spectrum of biodiversity would have been destroyed. These may include food chains and habitats of rare, endangered and indigenous species of all categories.
Destruction of forest estates would have devastating effects on high conservation value species and the utter destruction of Ghana’s genetic heat indices. Some forest estates might become so destroyed beyond reparations and recovery, affecting Ghana’s overall contribution to climate action and preservation of global biodiversity.
How can we solve the ‘galamsey’ problem once and for all?
I propose a number of ways, including bold policy options and punitive measures to deter reoccurrence. The solutions are set out as follows. Firstly, ban artisanal/’galamsey’ mining indefinitely. This allows for time to review its licensing schemes, analyse additional requirements to include to safeguard impacts of activities on environmental resources.
The ban will also help to review the players to be allowed to engage in the scheme in the future, as well as what equipments to allow for the mining activities. It is recommended that future licensing should prohibit the use of excavators and other sophisticated equipments. Also, non-Ghanaian players especially, Chinese must not be permitted to engage in the trade.
The country should name and shame all political players, including members of parliament currently seeking re-election in the current electoral processes. It is proposed that such MPs or politicians must be completely banned from engaging in future politics, even if they get re-elected. This punitive measure is important to deter such irresponsible behaviour of any category of political leaders.
There must be a robust analysis of beneficiaries of the value and supply chains of the traded ‘galamsey’ gold to force the return of at least 80% of some moneys to be put in a trust fund for use to correct the impacts. The value and supply chain participants must be liable to punishable offences under the country’s rules of law.
A strong case could be made for criminal acts involving wilful destruction of the nation’s environmental resources as well as causing wanton health problems to a significant Ghanaian population, akin to population decimation. Pursuing this case will make Ghana look serious.
Ghana should engage a rapid assessment of the extent of damage to environmental resources, including effects on human health and production systems, in order to design an imminent program for redress. The analysis should include the extent of coverage including geospatial distribution of farmlands and communities affected by the crisis.
Once the special distribution is determined, this information must be made available publicly with a command to totally stop any food production from these regions. Essentially, there must be a seclusion of agriculture foods including inland fisheries from the local food distribution supply chain. This ban must be enforced until such time as the environment is cleaned.
Ghana should engage in science and technology solutions for cleaning the water sources, decontamination of soils and restoring the ecological integrity of our ecosystems. The technological solution exists to destroy the man-made chemicals (per-fluorinate substances-PFAs) and the metalloids to clean the waters and soils of these substances.
But the exercise is very expensive and could cost several billions of dollars to do so. However, the good news is that the solution and expertise exists that we can tap into. Besides, the cleaning process would engage human capacities which would create jobs for Ghanaians, including some of those who have engaged in the ‘galamsey’ in the first place.
Author
Dr Ishmael Nii Amanor Dodoo is a former senior UN diplomat, a strategic advisor to governments and development partners.
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