Acting Chief Justice calls for bold action to end Galamsey

The Acting Chief Justice, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, has urged Ghana’s political leadership to take bold and uncompromising steps to end the destructive menace of small-scale illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

In a speech delivered on his behalf by Supreme Court Justice Hafisata Amaleboba at the opening of the 2025/26 Bar Conference in Wa, Upper West Region, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie described galamsey as an existential threat to Ghana’s survival, devastating the environment, water bodies, and farmlands.

He questioned how the nation allowed “a few selfish and greedy individuals, connected to power and influence, to hold the entire country and its future to ransom.”

Justice Baffoe-Bonnie condemned the selective enforcement of the law, where “those at the lowest rungs of the activity chain” are arrested and paraded, while the real power brokers behind galamsey continue unchecked.

Highlighting the severe environmental degradation, he pointed to the Pra, Ankobra, and Birim rivers, now lifeless and murky due to toxic chemicals like mercury.

He warned of an impending water crisis, citing the Ghana Water Company Limited’s revelation that treatment plants face process losses of 35–50%, far beyond the acceptable level of 5%.

The Acting Chief Justice stressed that galamsey has destroyed agricultural lands, worsened food insecurity, displaced farmers, and deepened poverty. Mercury contamination, he added, also poses long-term health risks.

Justice Baffoe-Bonnie noted that galamsey has escalated security challenges, attracting foreign financiers and fueling robbery, violence, and other crimes in mining areas.

He called for urgent reforms, including the repeal of L.I. 2462, which currently permits mining in forest reserves, stressing that the country cannot afford further delay.