Galamsey’s Employment Trap: Catholic Bishops Demand Action Beyond Arrests

By Boakye Stephen, Kumasi, Ghana | Reporting for Ghanaian News Canada

The fight against illegal mining in Ghana is confronting a difficult reality: for a growing number of young people, galamsey is no longer merely an illegal activity but a means of earning a living.

The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference says this economic dependence is complicating efforts to protect Ghana’s forests, rivers and communities from the destructive consequences of illegal mining.

President of the Conference, Most Rev. Matthew Gyamfi, raised the concern during an engagement with Parliament’s Committee on Chieftaincy, Culture and Religious Affairs, where he called for a more decisive national response to the menace.

He said the persistence of galamsey, coupled with youth unemployment and environmental degradation, should compel authorities to act with greater urgency.

“Illegal mining is still ongoing, unfortunately, sadly, dangerously. Youth unemployment, environmental degradation, we call for responsible and decisive action. We are destroying God’s creation,” he said.

But the Bishops’ concerns extend beyond the young people working at mining sites.

The Conference says allegations of involvement by some politicians, Members of Parliament, Municipal and District Chief Executives and traditional leaders raise serious questions about the effectiveness of Ghana’s attempts to eradicate illegal mining.

Most Rev. Gyamfi disclosed that the Conference had even received a letter from an MP who was reportedly involved in a disagreement with an MCE over illegal mining. For him, the incident illustrates the political and institutional complications surrounding the galamsey debate.

The Catholic Bishops believe the country is approaching a point where illegal mining is being tolerated or treated as an informal employment programme for unemployed youth.

Most Rev. Gyamfi warned that such an approach could prove disastrous because the immediate income generated from galamsey does not compensate for the wider environmental and social costs.

He argued that once Ghana properly compares what the country gains from illegal mining with what it loses through environmental destruction and its associated consequences, the balance is overwhelmingly negative.

“There are clear evidences that some chiefs, some politicians, some MPs, some MCEs engage in this. Now it appears that it is even formalised as a way of giving employment to people. But if we do the cost-benefit analysis, we see we are on the losing side greatly,” he said.

The Bishops’ intervention therefore places youth employment at the centre of the galamsey debate while simultaneously demanding accountability from those allegedly enabling the practice.

COMMENTARY

Ghana’s galamsey problem cannot be solved simply by asking young people to stop mining.

That approach addresses the visible end of the problem while potentially leaving the economic conditions that sustain it untouched.

If a young person has no reliable source of income and an illegal mining operation offers immediate cash, telling that person to abandon galamsey without providing a credible alternative may not produce lasting results.

But unemployment cannot become an excuse for destroying the country’s natural resources.

The more difficult question is why the state has allowed an illegal industry to become economically attractive enough to absorb unemployed youth in the first place.

There is also another uncomfortable issue raised by the Bishops: accountability must extend beyond the young men and women physically found at mining sites.

If allegations that politicians, traditional leaders, MCEs or MPs facilitate illegal mining are substantiated, investigations should follow the chain of responsibility upward. Ghana cannot win the galamsey fight if enforcement consistently reaches the labourer but stops before reaching the financiers, sponsors, political connections and other influential actors behind the operations.

The solution must therefore combine employment creation, strict enforcement, environmental restoration and institutional accountability.

Ghana needs its youth to work–but it also needs those young people to inherit rivers, forests and farmland capable of sustaining future generations.