The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) is urging President John Dramani Mahama to take more drastic steps against illegal mining (galamsey), calling for a temporary state of emergency in affected areas and offering the Church’s full partnership in the national fight.
Led by Reverend Matthew Gyamfi, President of the GCBC and Bishop of the Sunyani Diocese, a 20-member delegation visited the Presidency in Accra to congratulate Mahama on his 2024 re-election and deliver what the bishops described as “a moral and national appeal” to rescue Ghana’s environment and values from the grip of illegal mining.
In a bold statement, Rev Gyamfi said the environmental devastation caused by galamsey had reached crisis levels, citing recent data showing over 4,000 hectares of forest lost in two years and rivers like the Prah, Offin, and Ankobrah severely polluted. But beyond the environmental cost, he warned of a deeper, more dangerous erosion — the decay of social and moral values in mining-affected communities.
“We are not just losing trees and rivers. We are losing the soul of our nation,” Rev Gyamfi declared. “This is not just an ecological emergency. It is a moral one.”
The GCBC proposed a wide-ranging plan to reverse the damage, including:
- Declaring a limited state of emergency in mining zones.
- Deploying military engineers for land reclamation.
- Freezing new small-scale mining licenses.
- Repealing permissive sections of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703).
- Launching blockchain-based mineral tracking to curb smuggling.
- Creating district-level monitoring teams with civil society oversight.
- Establishing an independent restoration fund and funding vocational alternatives like agroforestry and ecotourism.
In a rare show of institutional collaboration, the bishops pledged their readiness to actively partner the government in education, monitoring, and community mobilization.
President Mahama welcomed the bishops’ proposals, acknowledging both the complexity of the galamsey crisis and the urgency of action. He assured the GCBC that his administration remains committed to reclaiming degraded lands and restoring lawful mining practices.
“We’ve made notable progress,” the President said, “but we recognize that this fight requires both enforcement and enduring partnerships — and I welcome the Church’s role in this.”
The GCBC’s intervention is the latest in a growing national outcry against galamsey, but perhaps the most comprehensive yet — combining moral leadership with actionable policy recommendations and long-term community-based solutions.
