Traditional leaders’ complicity, mining with ‘juju’ and the way forward…

For years, Ghanaians have been up in arms, calling on successive governments to intervene and put an end to illegal mining, also known as galamsey. The media and civil society organisations have actively engaged the public and advocated and petitioned Parliament and the presidency to halt what has now become an existential crisis.

In 2017, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in response to the many calls for action on the matter, promised to fight galamsey, even if it meant putting his job on the line.

“I have said it in the Cabinet, and perhaps this is the first time I am making this public, that I am prepared to put my presidency on the line in the fight against galamsey,” the President said at a two-day workshop on galamsey for traditional leaders in Accra.

Subsequently, an almost two-year ban was placed on small-scale mining; a military deployment, ‘Operation Vanguard’ and ‘Operation Halt II’, were launched to chase out illegal miners on sites and remove them from river bodies and forest reserves, respectively.

Almost eight years into President Akufo-Addo’s presidency and the measures previously stated, Ghanaians continue to repeat the same demands as years ago: #StopGalamseyNow. Four regions, Ashanti, Western, Western North, and Eastern, have been identified as galamsey hotspots, and over 60 percent of the country’s water bodies have been polluted with mercury and other dangerous heavy metals, resulting in health implications such as kidney failure, respiratory conditions and congenital disabilities. Erasmus Asare Donkor’s October 2023 documentary, ‘Poisoned for Gold’, sheds light on how illegal miners use these heavy metals in their search for gold and its dire health implications on citizens.

In an August 30, 2024, press statement, Ghana Water Company Limited lamented the adverse effects of galamsey activities on its operations.

“About 60 per cent of the catchment capacity is silted as a result of illegal mining, compromising the quality of raw water. We are currently recording an average turbidity of 14,000 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) instead of 2,000 NTU designed for adequate treatment. Currently, the plant is able to produce only 7,500m3 per day, a quarter of its installed capacity,” the press statement reads.

The headline of this 2017 GNA report, cross-published by Pulse, would show that GWLC’s problem with galamsey activities, turbidity rates, and difficulty producing water did not just creep up on us yesterday.

“About 60 per cent of Ghana’s water bodies are polluted, with many in critical condition, the Water Resources Commission (WRC) has said,” the report reads.

Meanwhile, a September 2024 report by the Daily Graphic reveals forest reserves, including the Afao Hills in the Bibiani Forest District in the Western-North Region and Denyau and Supoma, both in the Bekwai Forest District in the Ashanti Region, have been pillaged and depleted as a result of mining activities.

Thanks to the sustained work of the media, journalists, and civil society organisations, there are renewed calls, louder than ever, for the government to act NOW. Some civil society organisations and experts are demanding an outright ban on illegal mining, a declaration of a state of emergency per Articles 31 and 31 (4) of the 1992 Constitution, the revocation of the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations, 2022 (L.I. 2462) and the withdrawal of all licences that had been granted for prospecting or mining in forest reserves and protected areas.

Coincidentally, while I was waiting to join the #StopGalamseyNow and #FreeTheCitizens protest yesterday, I got talking to someone who said he used to be a ‘galamseyer’. Kojo Manu (actual name withheld), told me he and a group of young men were ‘hired’ by someone from the Okyenehene’s palace ten years ago to help fight galamsey. However, after months of working without getting paid, he was compelled to join those he was fighting to make ends meet. For him, the fight against illegal mining lies with the chiefs.

He recounts his experience and how he got into the practice. Our conversation was in English, interspersed with a little Twi and Ga. I’ve tried to recount everything in his own words. Most of the conversation started before he finally agreed to be recorded.

KM: Galamsey money is not good money. As they say, blacks we always forget things easily. Today, he goes, and he gets money. Tomorrow he goes, and he gets money. As he gets the money, he keeps spending. If he goes in the next five months and doesn’t get money, he will say it is his auntie or grandmother somewhere doing him. But it is the money. The money that comes. Ten years ago, I was working on a site, earning 500 cedis a day. Even when we don’t get gold to silt out, I was earning that much from one site. We start work from 5 am to 2 pm, and we can make 500 cedis. There were 24 of us in our gang, and each of us made 500 cedis a day. You can imagine. So when you get gold to silt out, you can get 1000 cedis in a day.

Interviewer: So, take me through the process

KM: If I buy land, I may have money to buy an excavator, dig it up, do everything and bring in boys to mine the sand. You will find the gold in the sand. Since the boys did not contribute money towards the operation, we have specific amounts we pay them. But if, as the site owner, I dig it up and do everything myself, the price I will sell it for is different from the price you will get for the one dug out by an excavator. That’s because the one dug out by an excavator is not as risky.

Interviewer: What’s the difference?

KM: The surface one is called alluvial mining, but the local term is ‘suie gum’. They build a mini washing plant for us. When the excavator brings the load out, you work there, and you wash the goods and the waste. That one does not spoil the rivers like chanfangs; they mine directly on the river. But with the excavator, you need to dig a hole, bring your load to one side, get your plants on the edge and wash back into the pit you dug out. That’s where you get the extracted gold and the waste sand goes back there.

Interviewer: That’s what you did?

KM: That’s what I did.

Interviewer: You did that for five years?

KM: I did that for four years. Actually, we worked for two years and got money to acquire our own land. When you are driving someone’s taxi, and you get money, you’d definitely buy your own and decide to drive it. So as we were working for people, we gathered money and went for a piece of land. But unfortunately for us, the land that we went for (Laughs)…we have the long pit and the short pit. With the short pit, an excavator can use eight hours to bring out the load, and you start washing. But with the long pit, the excavator can take three days, and those three days will cost you more money and fuel. So we bought the land and went for a sponsor — someone to get us an excavator, buy fuel and later buy the gold from us. When we got the first pit, we made a profit. But when the profit came, some of the guys started fooling around. So we were like, ‘If you’ve seen small money and you’ve started fooling, what will you do when you see big money’? So we split up, and we became 12. The 12 of us also went for another site with our profit and that’s where the loss started coming. We bought the land — it was a virgin land actually — a very vast forest, and we started mining. We went there, tested the land and realised there was gold there. So we had to go to the palace, pay off the money there…

Interviewer: So you went to the palace?

KM: Oh yes! You can’t mine there without seeing the priest. You have to go there and pay them. You have to tell them you’ve seen a plot of land, you’ve spoken to the land owner, and he has agreed to give it to you. But before you move an excavator there, you have to speak with the chief priest to come and perform some rituals there because you will definitely cross a river. You can’t move an excavator without anyone noticing. So you have to go and see them, talk to them and pay them off. Other than that, when you bring it there, they will call some boys to come and take your keys, come and fight you at the site…When you pay them off, you don’t have any problem.

Interviewer: And this was at Kibi

KM: Yes. When you pay them off, you don’t have any problem. You can move an excavator anywhere you want to go. When you go here, and see a plot of land, you can go and see them and pay them. As soon as you pay them off, you are good to mine.

Interviewer: Do you remember how much you paid them?

KM: No, it’s been too long

Interviewer: Did you have to make any sacrifices? You were talking about that earlier.

KM: Oh Yes! As I told you, we called the Chief Priest, he came and did a few things and said that the river needed a duck — a white duck. We sacrificed the white duck. When we dug the pit and tested, we saw there was gold there. But when we finished washing, the gold didn’t come. We went back to him, and he said…you know, they always have stories. He said that the duck was a twin, and the other one said he needs a sheep. We sacrificed the sheep. Still, it wasn’t coming. So we were asking around, contemplating, and someone was like, he knows someone somewhere who is very powerful, so we should go and consult that guy. So we went to the guy and brought him to the site. He came there at dawn. He did one or two things, went back and said we should come back to his shrine in three days. He will give us a response. When we went back, do you know what he told us? He said the river there is saying the river needs someone who has died a premature death’s dress. The dress that the person was wearing when they died.

Interviewer: The dress they were wearing when they died?

KM: It didn’t matter. But when they were dying, the dress that the person was wearing he needed that dress. A premature dead person’s dress. I was like, ‘Wow, is that what they need before they release the gold?’ We asked him for some time to think about it and to see if we can get it. When we came out, I told them if this is what the river needs, I can’t do it.

Interviewer: Which river was that?

KM: One of the small rivers in Kibi. It’s between Kibi and a town there called Akwadum. I was like, ‘No, massa, I can’t.’ I knew where we could get one. Honestly, I knew where we could get one. And I know it is going on, but then, as a Christian, I can’t do it.

Interviewer: Where would you have gotten one?

KM: The Kibi mortuary is there. There are a lot of accidents happening on the Kibi-Kumasi road, and that is where they bring most of their dead bodies. When you go and see the mortuary man and give him something and request for the outfit, he will just take it off and give it to you. If the family comes and he tells them they brought the body without any attire, they can’t fight him. Because he was there when they brought the body and insists that’s how they brought it. So I told them I can’t do it. So my mind was if today I take the dress and money starts coming, and it starts going down again, and tomorrow he says we should bring the finger, you will definitely go for that one too. And then the next day he says bring a toe, bring a head, bury someone there. Because the money has started coming and you are enjoying, you will definitely like to keep on enjoying. So me, I said I wouldn’t start something I can’t continue. So, I left. That’s how I departed from them and joined a different gang to work until Nana Addo came into power. That’s how I came out and came to Accra.

Interviewer: So your government came into office, and you thought things would be better

KM: We thought things would be better, but when we came back, things weren’t as he had promised. So we all have to find something to do.

Interviewer: But are you happier now? Compared with when you were in the galamsey business?

KM: No, to be honest with you, I’m not happier. Actually, I wasn’t happy doing the galamsey but I was earning money that was taking care of me and my family. But coming to Accra, trying to open my own business…because of one or two things the business couldn’t hold.

Interviewer: So let’s go back to the beginning — how you got into the business. You mentioned you were working, Atta Mills came into office, you lost your job, and it was at that point that the Okyehene’s palace recruited you to police some mining sites…

KM: Yes, yes. He recruited some guys to come and help him fight galamsey. I was into spare parts before.

Interviewer: So you are saying that the chiefs are involved…

KM: They are invloved

Interviewer: So if we want to fight galamsey, we have to start with them…

KM: Yeah. They are the first people to go to. In my town…I’m from Brong Ahafo. There’s gold there, but the chiefs are saying they will not let anyone come and mine there. So even though it’s going on, it’s not like what’s going on elsewhere. What’s going on is the townspeople sneaking to do it. They cover their tracks. So it’s the chiefs. It’s the chiefs that they need to tackle first. Even if Nana Addo says no and they say they want to do it…I know a chief in Kibi who was mining. So the President alone can’t fight it. Even the military can’t. If the chiefs say no, there’s nothing the president can do. I was in Kibi. There was a pit right behind Amoatia Oforipanyin’s house. You know Obronikrom? That’s where Amoatia Oforipanyin’s house is. That’s where he sleeps when he comes to Kibi. There was a pit right behind his wall.

Interviewer: This was ten years ago, right?

KM: Yes

Interviewer: So we can’t say it’s still there?

KM: Oh, it was covered. There was an incident, so it was covered fast.

Interviewer: What incident?

KM: They came to meet a dead body in the pit. So before it came out, an excavator had gone to cover it.

Interviewer: So, would you say he was aware?

KM: He comes to sleep there every time. I don’t know. I can’t say whether he was aware or not.

Interviewer: But then it would be strange if he knew. Because for someone who recruited young people to help him fight galamsey…

KM: Yes, that’s why I decided that if I can’t beat them, I should join them. It didn’t make sense to chase them, seize their tools and later find out that it had been returned to them.

Interviewer: And you said he didn’t pay you for six months?

KM: He didn’t pay us. When you come, they will tell you they won’t pay you, so when you go (to the mining sites), what you get is yours. So that means when you go and you arrest them, and they give you something, you will take it because already you are being told that you are not going to be paid. And that was not my home town. My parents were not staying there. I was renting. I needed to buy food. When I got sick, I had to take care of myself…

Interviewer: So, how many were you?

KM: We were many. When we were going out, we normally went with two vans, two pick up and two motorbikes.

Interviewer: And you were not paid until you left?

KM: No one was paying anyone. They told us they were not going to pay anyone, so we could not even ask anybody.

Interviewer: So, was it the chief himself who recruited you or someone from his palace? Was he aware that you had been recruited?

KM: Actually, you know every group has its leader? There was this guy called Nana Macho. He was the personal body guard of Nana Addo before he became president, years back when he contested and lost to Atta Mills. He was his bodyguard. He was our leader. Since his government was not in power and he realised this was going on, he was working for this company in Kwabeng — Extra Gold. The guy from the palace engaged him to get some guys and work under the Okyehene to stop those illegal miners. They told us they would not pay us, but we would get a better job if we did it well. Most of us were even thinking we would get jobs at Extra Gold since they needed boys, and we were doing the same things. So that’s why I joined. But later, we were not getting the job. I had been there for almost a year. I wasn’t hearing anything from Extra Gold. From the Chieftaincy side, too, nothing better was going on, so I had to free myself.