Illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, remains one of Ghana’s most persistent national challenges despite years of government-led interventions, military operations, policy reforms and public campaigns. Successive administrations have struggled to curb the destruction of water bodies, forests and farmlands, even as communities continue to express frustration over lack of meaningful benefits from the nation’s mineral wealth. It is within this long-running national debate that Dr. John Kpikpi, the 2024 presidential candidate of the Progressive Alliance of Ghana (PAG), has offered a different angle — arguing that the root of the crisis lies in Ghana’s own history of poor resource stewardship.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Afternoon Ghana, Dr. Kpikpi said galamsey did not begin as a destructive activity but as a survival response by Ghanaians who felt cut off from the resources beneath their own lands. According to him, mining communities like Obuasi watched multinational companies export billions of dollars in gold while locals were left without fair access to the wealth generated around them.
He argued that had Ghana structured its mining sector from the outset to benefit local people and the wider population, the desperate rush into illegal mining would never have taken root.
“Galamsey got a bad name now, but in the beginning it was not a bad thing, it was artisanal mining people trying to get some gold from the ground. The problems that have developed around galamsey must be traced to the disenfranchisement of Ghanaians from the minerals. People grow up in Obuasi and see companies take all the gold money away year after year, and they themselves get nothing.” He said.
Dr. Kpikpi explained that this long-standing exclusion created frustration and pushed many into illegal mining, stressing that the only sustainable solution is to restructure ownership so that citizens benefit directly from national mineral wealth.
In addition to diagnosing the roots of galamsey, Dr. Kpikpi applauded the government’s Gold Board (Goldbod) initiative, describing it as one of the strongest signs that Ghana can successfully manage its natural resources when it takes direct responsibility. He noted that Goldbod’s success in improving revenue flow and contributing to stabilizing the cedi-dollar relationship demonstrates the power of national ownership.
He emphasized that if a small portion of Ghana’s gold resources under Goldbod can generate such significant impact, the effect would be transformational if the entire mineral sector were brought under similar management.
“I think it was an excellent move, that is what has helped us to change our relationship between the Ghana cedi and the US dollar, and that is only a small part of the gold resource taken over and already producing so much impact instantly.
Imagine what it will be like if 100% of it is taken charge of what can we not do with this?” He stated,
Dr. Kpikpi urged government to extend the Goldbod approach to oil, diamonds and all other mineral resources, insisting that such a shift would maximize national wealth and remove the incentives driving illegal mining.