Illegal Miners on Rampage , Ghana Voice Report.com
The debate surrounding Ghana’s illegal mining menace, popularly known as “galamsey,” has intensified after Dennis Miracles Aboagye, an aide to former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, led a media delegation to the Central Region to present what he termed as undeniable evidence of an escalating crisis under the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.
In a direct challenge to the government, which recently requested evidence of a worsened situation, Mr Aboagye showcased the severe environmental and humanitarian crisis engulfing communities far away from mining sites.
The Ayensu River Crisis: Evidence in the Minister’s Home Region
The evidence centers on the Agona East District in the Central Region, an area that has no history of gold mining, yet is now suffering devastating consequences. Mr Aboagye specifically highlighted the town of Agona Kwanyako, where the Ayensu River, a critical water source, flows.
“The evidence is here, and it’s right in the home of the Minister for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu,” Mr Aboagye declared, emphasising the gravity of the situation in a region closely tied to a government official.
According to Mr Aboagye, the Ayensu River, which runs through Agona East, Agona West, and surrounding districts, has experienced unprecedented pollution in the last eight months. The turbidity and pollution levels are so severe that the water treatment plant serving the area has been completely shut down.
This shutdown has left approximately 11 districts in the Central Region without access to potable water. Residents, particularly women, are forced to fetch the contaminated river water and boil it for hours before it can be deemed marginally safe for consumption.
Mr Aboagye stated that the Mankrong and Kwanyarko communities have never experienced their river polluted to this level, stressing the painful irony that innocent citizens are suffering the impact of galamsey operations located hundreds of kilometers away in the Eastern Region.
Political Hypocrisy and A Call for Action
Mr Aboagye did not mince words regarding the political dimensions of the crisis, accusing the NDC government of enabling the very problem it campaigned against.
“This NDC Government won the 2024 elections largely on the back of Galamsey and the inability of the NPP government to win the fight,” he noted. “I always insisted that the NDC were enabling galamsey, which is why it became a difficult fight for the NPP. Today, the situation is worse; our water bodies have been invaded threefold, and it’s deteriorating at an alarming rate.”
He further alleged that party figures are leading the “onslaught on our river bodies,” accusing the government of buying gold from galamsey operators and adopting a laid-back attitude by simply maintaining existing, ineffective policies.
Historical Data on Water Quality
To substantiate his claim that the galamsey crisis historically escalates under the NDC and improves under the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Aboagye referenced data from the Water Quality Index (WQI) compiled by the Water Resources Commission (WRC). He stressed that the WQI, which uses turbidity and four other indicators, is the true measure of water health, not just turbidity levels alone.
The WRC records, according to his presentation, show a clear pattern:
• At the start of 2010, all 40 water sources sampling sites were described as FAIRLY GOOD.
• 2012 – 2016 (NDC Era): The quality deteriorated sharply, with about 60-70% of sampling sites reported to have POOR WATER QUALITY. The NDC government, he claimed, destroyed 25 of the 41 clean water systems.
• 2017 – 2024 (NPP Era): Water quality saw significant improvement. The number of FAIRLY GOOD sites increased from 15 to 29, while the number of POOR QUALITY sites reduced from 25 to 10. The NPP administration, he argued, restored 14 of the destroyed water systems.
“The record of the NDC per the data is clear. Times have changed, and people are now ready to hear and understand the issues,” Mr Aboagye asserted.
Concluding his address, Mr Aboagye called on the government to immediately stop referencing the previous administration and instead focus on fulfilling the six specific campaign promises they made to the people regarding the galamsey fight.
“Galamsey remains a major challenge for this country, and the earlier this NDC government realizes the times we are in… and gets to work to fix the situation, the better. We are counting on the NDC government to change this,” he concluded.
