Illegal Mining in Ghana “a political ploy”, Catholic Official Says, Faults Successive Governments for “double standards”

“In opposition, they demand drastic measures; in power, they downplay the crisis, arguing that declaring a state of emergency would negatively affect the nearly 4 million people living in mining areas,” he says.

He further laments, “Honestly, if this has not turned into a political ploy, then what is it? The constant back-and-forth is wearing people out, to the point where many no longer pay attention to developments in the galamsey industry.”

Earlier, on September 15, members of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC)  reiterated their concern about the spread of illegal mining in the country and urged the government to declare a state of emergency in “mining zones” as a step toward addressing the perennial challenge.

Describing illegal mining as “cancer,” which they said has become one of the gravest afflictions in the West African nation, the Bishops said a declaration of the state of emergency “would empower extraordinary interventions: curfews in volatile areas, the securing of devastated lands, the dismantling of entrenched criminal syndicates, and the halting of corrupt administrative complicities.”

Ghana’s Catholic Bishops recalled that God has entrusted human beings with stewardship of the earth and explained that to “desecrate creation through galamsey is not only an offence against neighbour; it is a grave sin against God Himself, the Creator and Owner of all.”

In another statement, members of Ghana’s National Catholic Laity Council (NCLC) backed the Catholic Bishops’ call for the state of emergency, affirming that they are experiencing first-hand impact of the illegal mining.

“We, the lay faithful, live in the very communities where the impact is felt most painfully,” they said, adding that they have witnessed water sources that were once life-giving and clear, now poisoned with mercury and cyanide, running brown and lifeless.

They added, “We watch fertile farmlands, which for generations fed families and sustained livelihoods, destroyed and abandoned to gaping pits. We witness our children, who should be in school learning for a brighter future, dropping out to risk their lives in unstable mining shafts, for quick but fleeting gains.”

In his reflection published September 19, Fr. Nibetol expounds on the genesis of illegal mining in Ghana, saying, “In earlier years, many—especially the youth living near mining sites—engaged in small-scale mining as a means of survival.”

Though unregulated, he says, “its impact on the environment, aquatic life, and human health was not as devastating as what we see today.”

He blames the rising unemployment and the “sluggish economic conditions” in Ghana fro the shift from once-organized small-scale mining by a few people to the widespread activity today.

Besides unemployment and economic conditions, Fr. Nibetol laments that the “atrocities are heavily financed and protected by powerful actors—politicians, chiefs, foreign nationals, especially Chinese, pastors, wealthy Ghanaians abroad, and organized criminal groups.”

As the powerful promote illegal mining, the Ghanaian Catholic Priest says that the health risks and environmental destruction faced by the rest of Ghanaians continue unchecked.

In his reflection, Fr. Nibetol further says that despite previous calls from the Catholic Church and civil societies, including the “environmental prayer walk” against illegal mining, which the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra realized on 11 October 2024 in partnership with the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious - Ghana (CMSR-GH), the President John Dramani Mahama-led government is yet to take any action.

“Galamsey poses a security threat to the nation, particularly in places where the illegal mining is happening,” he says, and adds, “Today, disturbing photos and videos show innocent children involved in galamsey. Communities living near mining sites lack clean water, exposing pregnant women, nursing mothers, and babies to grave risks.”

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The Ghanaian SVD member explains that stewardship is not ownership, as God created human beings as caretakers, not exploiters, of His creation. “Too often, we forget that the rest of creation existed before humanity, and God declared it good. Our lives depend on one another and on the environment,” he says.

“Though creation cannot speak with human voices, when it cries out in silence, even humans are forced to tremble,” Fr. Nibetol says his September 19 reflection.

The JPIC coordinator, who also represents VIVAT International in Ghana, a Catholic human rights organization that SVD members and their counterparts of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS) founded, says that VIVAT-Ghana is preparing to join forces with other advocacy groups to intensify the campaign against galamsey.

“The message is clear: galamsey must stop, and sustainable, regulated mining practices must replace it,” Fr. Nibetol says, and adds, “The trees are begging, the birds are pleading, the rivers are exhausted, and human lives are in danger. Let us act now. Let us end galamsey before it ends us.”