By Henrietta Afful
Copyright gbcghanaonline
This analysis delves into the crisis of illegal small-scale gold mining, known as galamsey, in Ghana, framing it as ecocide – a deliberate destruction of ecosystems that ravages the environment, human lives, and the nation’s cultural soul. Drawing on recent data from 2025, it examines the sponsors, including political elites, traditional leaders, and foreign actors, whose complicity perpetuates this greed-driven catastrophe. The paper highlights the apocalyptic devastation: poisoned rivers, deforested landscapes, health epidemics, and social disintegration, while invoking Ghanaian cultural reverence for “Asaase Yaa” (Mother Earth) as a metaphor for the incestuous violation of the land. Echoing biblical calls for stewardship and a national anthem of resistance, it argues that inaction will lead to irreversible collapse, urging immediate collective action to preserve Nkrumah’s vision of Ghana. As unchecked galamsey threatens to render the nation uninhabitable, the time to act is now – arise and scatter the enemies of creation.
Introduction: The Rape of Asaase Yaa and the Soul of Ghana
In Ghanaian Akan cosmology, the earth is personified as “Asaase Yaa,” the nurturing Mother Earth, revered as a goddess who sustains life and demands respect. To desecrate her is akin to incestuous rape—a profound cultural taboo that symbolizes the betrayal of one’s origins. Yet, this is precisely what galamsey represents: a violent assault on the land driven by excessive greed. Galamsey, derived from “gather them and sell,” refers to illegal artisanal gold mining that has escalated into a national catastrophe, poisoning rivers, eroding farmlands, and endangering millions.
As of 2025, this ecocide not only devastates the environment but corrodes the spirit of the nation, betraying the independence ideals of Kwame Nkrumah, who envisioned a prosperous, self-reliant Ghana – not the Gold Coast becoming a Cursed Coast.
The crisis is exacerbated by political complicity, turning a blind eye for electoral gains and personal enrichment.
Recent protests and statements from the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) on September 15, 2025, underscore the urgency, labeling galamsey a “cancer” and calling for a state of emergency.
The renewed call by the Media Coalition Against Galamsey, asking Government to put in place “urgent and radical measures”, adds solid voice to that of the GCBC.
Biblical echoes resonate: “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered” (Psalm 68:1), a plea against the oppressors plundering God’s creation.
We cannot sit idly by; the consequences are already devastating and will worsen, creating an apocalyptic state of barren lands, broken communities, populations facing food/water starvation, and the possible creation of hubs of carcasses that would only feed the appetite of scavanging vultures.
History and Scope of Galamsey in Ghana
Galamsey has roots in pre-colonial artisanal mining but exploded in the 1980s with economic liberalization, attracting unemployed youth and foreign investors. By 2025, it accounts for over 30% of Ghana’s gold production, the continent’s largest, but operates illegally without environmental safeguards.
Operations span regions like Ashanti, Western, Central and Eastern, involving rudimentary tools alongside smuggled heavy machinery. Recent estimates indicate over a million direct participants, including children, with fortified camps resembling war zones—complete with trenches, watchtowers, and armed patrols—making enforcement deadly.
Government initiatives like Operation Vanguard (2017) and new measures in June 2025, such as excavator import permits, have failed due to corruption and lack of will.
The gross hypocrisy of the two major political parties vis-à-vis what they say in opposition and how they swing their voices in another direction when in power, speaks loudly of how there is no genuine desire to stop the canker. “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die” (Isaiah 22:13).
Sponsors and Political Complicity: The Greed of Sold-Out Souls
Galamsey’s persistence stems from powerful sponsors: political elites, traditional rulers, security officials, and foreign entities, particularly Chinese nationals.
Political complicity is bipartisan; both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP) have been accused of shielding operators for votes in mining constituencies.
Rents from illegal gold fund campaigns, with elites dependent on galamsey-dominated areas. In 2025, the NPP accused the NDC government of complicity in the rise of galamsey, while critics point to hypocrisy across administrations.
When political actors stand in public and state emphatically that nobody can stop them from supporting the galamsey industry because election victories were funded by monies from that industry, it tells you the extent to which conscience has given way to insensibility – insensibility that is turning Asaase Yaa into a target of incestuous rape by her own children.
Traditional leaders, meant to protect communal lands, often lease them illegally and Chinese involvement has industrialized operations, smuggling equipment and evading crackdowns. Digital media exposes elite scandals, revealing military protection for pillaging.
The GCBC has condemned politicians, chiefs, and leaders for shielding miners and eroding conscience-directed governance. This network of sold-out souls prioritizes narrow gains over national survival and it must now be fought and resisted headlong – taking no hostages.
For how long will Asaase Yaa endure such ghastly and insidious rape without using her last gasp of breath to fight back and push away, via marauding dastardly natural disasters, the bestial adversaries of her own womb?
Environmental Devastation: Ecocide and the Desecration of Asaase Yaa
Galamsey epitomizes ecocide, systematically destroying ecosystems. Over 60% of forest reserves have been deforested, with more than 100,000 acres of cocoa farms ruined. Rivers like Pra, Ankobra, Densu, Ayensu and Birim are polluted with mercury and cyanide, turning them into toxic sludge unfit for life.
The pollution makes it increasingly difficult and expensive to treat water for safe human consumption as well as industrial use – including pharmaceutical manufacturing. The algorithms of the devastation are deep, vast and convoluted.
Soil degradation and habitat loss exacerbate biodiversity decline, while air and noise pollution compound the harm.
This “rape of Mother Earth” violates cultural norms, as Asaase Yaa’s fertility is eroded by heavy metals poisoning crops and lands.
Climate change intersects, worsening water scarcity and farmland damage in northern Ghana.
Without intervention, experts warn of irreversible desertification, fulfilling apocalyptic visions of barren wastelands.
Impact on Lives: Health, Social, and Economic Apocalypse
The human toll is catastrophic. Health impacts include mercury-induced kidney failure, cancers, neurological disorders, and birth defects, with communities facing epidemics of chronic diseases. Neonatal defects and infertility are rising, linked to contaminated water and food chains.
Socially, child labor pulls thousands from education, while displacement disrupts agriculture, fueling food insecurity.
Violence and lawlessness prevail, with sex trafficking rings exploiting women in mining sites as well as sex workers also voluntarily migrating to such areas for financial benefit – corrupting morals in the process.
Economically, while providing livelihoods for some, galamsey undermines sustainable sectors like cocoa farming, costing billions in lost productivity.
When communities begin to dig underneath their own buildings, without thinking about the long-term effects, then the nation’s conscience is almost in the temperature zone of mortuaries.
Apocalyptic Consequences: Toward a Nation’s Demise
Unchecked, galamsey portends apocalypse: poisoned waters rendering regions uninhabitable, mass health crises overwhelming already overstretched medical systems, and economic collapse from lost arable land.
Biodiversity loss and climate amplification could trigger famines and migrations, eroding Ghana’s sovereignty.
Biblical parallels abound—defiling the land invites judgment (Numbers 35:33-34)—while Nkrumah’s Ghana risks dying from greed.
Recent coalitions demand emergencies, warning of a sinking nation.
The Prophetic Call to Action: Resist the Oppressors
The GCBC’s 2025 statement urges President Mahama to declare an emergency, overhaul laws, establish task forces, and restore lands. Aligning with Ghana’s anthem—”resist oppressors’ rule”—and biblical stewardship (Genesis 2:15), resistance must involve protests, legal reforms, and sustainable alternatives. Criminalizing ecocide could curb the catastrophe.
Mother Ghana, Asaase Yaa; have hemorrhaged wantonly out of the incessant rape; we must arise now because delay is betrayal
The enemies must be scattered to save Asaase Yaa and Ghana’s soul.
Let us rise up and FIGHT ECOSIDE!!!
Written By: Samuel Koku Anyidoho
(Founder &CEO, MILLS Institute For Transformational Leadership Development)
Email: Sitsoanyidoho1@yahoo.com
