Jump to navigation

Ghana

An early challenge for President Mahama

A gun battle between the military and galamsey miners has resulted in seven deaths, intensifying Ghana’s illegal mining crisis

The deaths of seven galamsey miners in a shoot-out with army officers have deepened the crisis over Ghana’s illegal mining.

On 18 January, the army reported that the gunfight occurred after around 60 illegal gold miners broke through the security fence at the AngloGold Ashanti mines.

The shooting started when the miners, armed with guns, knives and other weapons, attempted to enter the deep decline area of the mines.

Tackling illegal mining threatens to be an early, and potentially intractable problem for President John Mahama who was reelected in December, eight years after being ousted by the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (AC Vol 65 No 25, Mahama lacks time to turn his promised reset into reality). Both Mahama and Akufo-Addo promised to address galamsey mining.

On 20 January, the Ghana Coalition Against Galamsey urged Mahama to declare a state of emergency over the damage to the country’s rivers and water bodies caused by illegal mining.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Water Company Limited has reported an alarming increase in turbidity levels at the Sekyere Hemang Water Treatment Plant, reaching 14,000 Nephelometric Turbidity Units. This starkly contrasts with the World Health Organization’s safe threshold of 5 NTUs for water processing.

However, artisanal mining employs over a million people and contributes to 40% of gold production. Senior officials from both the NPP and Mahama’s National Democratic Congress have been implicated in these activities (AC Vol 65 No 21, The gold rush that poisons politics). Notably, Mahama did not set out specific policy plans to tackle galamsey ahead of the election.



Related Articles

Mahama lacks time to turn his promised reset into reality

Pledging a lean and accountable government, the new President says he will end nuisance taxes but keep the IMF reform programme on track

Following his victory in the 7 December presidential elections and securing a two-thirds majority in parliament, President-elect John Dramani Mahama has the executive power and the parliamentary support...


The gold rush that poisons politics

Campaigners are pressuring the vested interests profiting from galamsey mining in both parties ahead of the election

In response to growing outrage at the damage to farmland, livelihoods and the wider economy caused by galamsey mining, the government has promised to set up four specialised...


Beijing’s gas loan tests IMF

Officials in Washington are in last-minute negotiations over a compromise deal on the terms of China’s multi-billion-dollar loan to Accra

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) looks set to bend its rules this month to accommodate Ghana’s rush to raise a US$700 million loan from China to build a...


Drill-ship in the dock

Top politicians are battling it out in the courts again, this time over claims of corruption the two main parties are throwing at each other

Power-brokers in the governing National Democratic Congress and opposition New Patriotic Party are squaring up for a fresh courtroom battle after the Supreme Court upheld President John Mahama’s...


Ofori-Atta's team plans more cuts

Accra's return to the IMF has been praised by the ratings agencies and could trigger cheaper loans – but at the cost of wide-ranging budget reviews

The latest official budget data, for the first quarter, suggests Ghana was already overshooting this year's budget deficit targets before a second quarter when the full impact of...