Galamsey Fight: No honeymoon for whoever wins December 7 polls as six presidential candidates sign pact

Six Presidential Candidates for the December 7 elections have pledged to end irresponsible and unsustainable mining also known as galamsey in Ghana.

The candidates are the National Democratic Congress’s John Dramani Mahama; independent candidate, Alan Kyerematen, and the New Patriotic Party’s Dr Mahamudu Bawumia. The rest are the Liberal Party of Ghana’s Kofi Apaloo, Hassan Ayariga of All People’s Congress and John Twum-Barimah-Adu, an independent candidate.

This was disclosed at a press conference organized by the Ghana Coalition Against Galamsey (GCAG) at the International Press Centre on Thursday, December 5, 2024. The coalition is made up of many environmental groups and professional bodies, such as A Rocha Ghana, the University Teachers Association of Ghana, the Ghana Institute of Architects, and the media.  

A key convenor of the coalition, Dr Kenneth Ashigbey, said at the press conference that they would mount tremendous pressure on whoever wins the impending elections to immediately end galamsey.

“What have we gotten from the elections, (from) 1992 to date. The benefits have gone to the political class. But that ends today,” he said. “ As has been said, there is no honeymoon for whoever wins the next election. If they want a honeymoon, they should celebrate it before the 7th.”

He said the pact is a “social contract” between Ghanaians and the presidential candidates.

According to the pact, the winner of the December elections is not only to pledge but to act on five key areas. He must “immediately denounce” the practice of galamsey, design and implement policies to uproot galamsey, and “ruthlessly” prosecute illegal miners regardless of their social and political standing. The pact also enjoins the election’s winner to entreat their “supporters, party officials, communicators, and other persons speaking for and on behalf of our parties to desist from making comments supportive of the menace.”

Dr Ashigbey stressed the need for Ghanaians to resist being taken for granted any further by officials they elect.

“People we have voted for with our thumbs” who are supposed to be “the firefighters are now the arsonists”, he said, stressing that these people are “benefiting” from galamsey.

He added that the coalition will immediately meet with the next president to discuss his plans to end galamsey. He said they will relentlessly follow up on petitions sent to the police.

“There are petitions that we have with the police including Akonta Mining that have not been dealt with. That crime has to be punished. Including Heritage Imperial, that when they were given licenses to go and prospect [and they] had about 36 excavators in there. We need to go after everybody that has benefited from galamsey.”

Professor Ransford Gyampo, the General Secretary of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) at the University of Legon, said the pact is to bind the presidential candidates to commit to ending illegal mining.

“What we intend to do with the pact is to use it as a tool to demand accountability. And to ensure that people are subjected to strict rules and that they will keep to whatever they said they are going to be doing.”

On October 9, 2024, UTAG embarked on a strike to force the current government to halt illegal mining.

However, Dr Ashigbey pointed out that the enhanced measures that organised labour agreed with the government have not been implemented.

“We all can attest to the fact that the state of emergency they did not do, operation halt went one week, the police are so complicit in this fight… then we were told about the fact that we were going to repeal LI 2462. What happened?” he said.

According to mining expert, Lawrence M. K. Akakpo, what was started by individuals who used pans and shovels to dig for gold in the Prestea area in the mid 1970s, has now become a notorious international phenomenon.

In a 2021 article, Mr Akakpo wrote that the passage of the Minerals and Mining Act, Act (706) in 2006 created the environment for illegal mining to flourish.

The menace of galamsey since then has been worsening over the years. When President Akufo-Addo assumed office in 2017, he jumped onto the Media Coalition Against Galamsey to enact policies to fight the challenge.

However, almost eight years after being in government, his government could not stomp out illegal mining.