Govt’s GoldBod Sponsoring Galamsey’ Prof Adei Reveals
Ghana’s fight against illegal mining already crippled by political interference, institutional weakness, and brazen criminality—has been hit with a fresh scandal. Professor Stephen Adei, former Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), has delivered a blistering indictment of the Mahama administration’s gold-trading initiative, the Gold Board (GoldBod), accusing government of “legitimising the very criminality it claims to be fighting.”
In a viral video now circulating widely, the respected academic does not mince words. According to him, GoldBod sold to the public as a mechanism to “formalise” small-scale mining has instead become a state-sanctioned laundering scheme for galamsey gold, entrenching illegal mining rather than curbing it.
“Politicians, Chiefs, Security Agencies Are the Real Galamseyers”
Professor Adei delivered one of the most explosive allegations yet in the ongoing national conversation about environmental destruction:
“Who are the galamseyers? The politicians, the chiefs, and the security agents. They are responsible for polluting Ghana’s water sources.”
He accused powerful elites of hiding behind “policy innovation” to disguise their complicity, insisting that GoldBod was deliberately structured to absorb and legitimise illegal gold.
GoldBod: A Policy Designed to Fail?
GoldBod was marketed as a reform initiative to:
- streamline gold trading
- enhance traceability
- serve as the sole state buyer for licensed small-scale miners
But Adei argues that this model is a smokescreen, not a solution.
“GoldBod is the legalisation of galamsey… We buy from the small-scale miners, but we cannot distinguish between genuine miners and galamseyers.”
The implication is damning: Ghana’s gold market is now fully open to illicit output, with the government acting as the central clearing house.
A National Market for Illegality
Investigators and environmental experts have long warned that small-scale mining—both legal and illegal—operates in a blurred and often inseparable ecosystem. Adei’s comments confirm the worst fears:
- GoldBod creates a legal demand for gold that may originate from destroyed riverbeds and toxic pits.
- It eliminates the pressure to regulate mining activities at the source.
- It institutionalises a parallel economy where illegal miners can offload gold with state certification.
This, Adei argues, amounts to environmental laundering—a process by which the state “cleans” the proceeds of ecological crime.
Water Bodies on the Brink
The scale of damage is catastrophic. Ghana’s major rivers—including the Pra, Offin, Birim, and Ankobra—now suffer from:
- extreme turbidity
- mercury and cyanide contamination
- heavy siltation
- collapsing aquatic ecosystems
Adei warned that the crisis is not merely environmental—it is existential.
A Collapsing Regulatory Regime
Despite the Minerals Commission, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Water Resources Commission operating with taxpayer funding, illegal mining continues to flourish.
Why?
Because, according to Adei, those tasked with enforcing the law are the ones breaking it.
The Political Question No One Wants to Ask
If Adei’s claims are true, Ghana must confront a disturbing question:
Is the state still capable of regulating mining, or has the political class become the chief patron of illegal operations?
GoldBod, instead of tightening regulation, may have created a nationalised cover-up system—one that allows:
- politicians to control gold flows
- security officials to profit
- chiefs to protect illegal miners
- the government to benefit from the proceeds
All while Ghana’s rivers die.
A Call for a Forensic Audit
Policy analysts and anti-corruption experts are now demanding:
- a full audit of GoldBod’s transactions
- public disclosure of sourcing channels
- investigation into political beneficiaries
- a review of the model before irreversible damage is done
The Bigger Picture: Who Really Runs Ghana’s Gold?
Adei’s revelations revive an uncomfortable national debate: Is Ghana’s gold sector controlled by criminals, elites, or the state? Or are they now one and the same?
