The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of worsening illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, due to the operations of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod).

At a press conference addressed by its National Organizer, Henry Nana Boakye, the NPP claimed the NDC government has failed to provide jobs for the youth, while presiding over a state institution that has caused alleged financial losses of $1.7 billion.

“There is enough exposure, enough appetite, and enough mismanagement to cause losses of $1.7 billion in a single year when we are faced with a lot of economic challenges. This same government’s incompetence and its policy dissonance have allowed illegal mining to explode across the country,” Nana Boakye stated.

He lamented the severe environmental impact of galamsey, noting that water bodies are dying, farmlands are being poisoned, forest reserves are being destroyed, and even oceans are feeling the effect.

“Our water bodies are dying, our farmlands are poisoned. Our forest reserves are being torn apart. Even our oceans are feeling the damage. And I can tell you, galamsey is now worse — worse because of GoldBod. And they themselves have indirectly admitted that it is worse off now,” he said.

According to him, President Mahama himself has admitted that his own people are involved in galamsey, but has failed to take decisive action.

“GoldBod is the cause of the environmental destruction we are seeing. They are now responsible for that. As we speak, GoldBod cannot tell the difference between gold bought from a legal licensed source or gold mined by illegal miners tearing apart our forests and our rivers,” he alleged.

Nana Boakye further alleged that the Chief Executive Officer of GoldBod, Sammy Gyamfi, admitted on live television that some of GoldBod’s own licensed buyers may be engaged in wrongdoing.

“Serious voices from the Chamber of Mines to the NPP members in Parliament have asked the same question again and again: If GoldBod is not buying galamsey gold, then who is buying it? To this day, there is no honest answer, only excuses about systems that are still being built,” he said.

He criticized government for touting Ghana as the leading gold producer in the world without disclosing the true cost of that ranking.

“The government tells us Ghana is now the leading gold producer in the world. It parades that ranking as a triumph, but it does not tell us the true cost. It fails to inform us that illegal mining has now polluted over 60% of our water bodies. Some rivers are so choked with silt that Ghana Water has had to shut down treatment plants entirely because the water is simply too dirty to be treated,” he noted.

He added that the cost of treating water bodies could exceed GH¢17 billion by 2030 if the current trend continues, and pointed to loss of lives associated with galamsey activities, citing the Ashanti Regional Minister’s disclosure that 23 lives have been lost to galamsey.

“Ghanaians are being poisoned twice over — through the contaminated food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe, and financially, because billions of cedis that could have gone into the pockets of Ghanaians as their fair share of the gold boom are instead lost to illegal buying and a system that still cannot trace one gram of gold back to its source,” he said.

Report by Bernard K Dadzie Greater Accra Region