Accra, Dec. 5, 2024 – Dressed in a white singlet with a scarf tied around his head, Frank crouched near a muddy pit, preparing to plunge his hands into the soil in search of gold.
Around him, shirtless men, their bodies smeared with dirt and glistening with sweat, worked tirelessly under the blazing sun, near Ghana’s capital Accra.
But their activities come at a cost — degraded farmlands, polluted water bodies, shrinking forests and damage to Ghana’s cocoa crops, a major source of export revenue.
Ghana, the world’s sixth-largest gold exporter and second-largest cocoa producer, is grappling with the damaging effects of galamsey as the country goes to the ballot box.
Once-thriving cocoa farms in regions like Western and Ashanti have been decimated, with over 19,000 hectares (47,000 acres) lost to mining.
Rivers poisoned by mercury and cyanide runoff from mining operations are now threatening drinking water supplies for millions of Ghanaians, according to the utility provider Ghana Water Company Limited.
In the town of Osino, a three-hour drive from Accra, vast areas of fertile land have been stripped bare and their topsoil washed away.
“The government needs to support us to mine responsibly,” Frank said.
Protesters have called for immediate action to halt the environmental damage, but scepticism lingers over political promises.
“None of the parties have outlined a clear, enforceable strategy to tackle illegal mining,” said Clement Abaidoo, executive director of the Center for Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainability.
Many see the ongoing crisis as evidence that politicians prioritise short-term gains over long-term sustainability.
For Frank and others in the trade, the vote represents a chance to demand solutions — and for environmental advocates like Abaidoo, to protect the West African country’s natural heritage.
“We can’t be deliberate in solving the problem without engaging all the stakeholders,” Abaidoo said. (AFP)
