“When the rivers die, the nation dies with them.”
As I walk along the banks of the Pra, Offin, and Ankobra rivers, I feel a deep, piercing sorrow. The heartbeat of our nation — once vibrant, sustaining life, and inspiring hope — now grows faint. These rivers, which I remember as crystalline and life-giving in my childhood, now carry the heavy burden of toxins and mud. I see with my own eyes how galamsey — illegal small-scale gold mining — has become more than an environmental crisis; it is a moral and spiritual catastrophe, consuming the soul of Ghana.
- The Environmental Apocalypse: When the Earth Weeps
In the Western, Ashanti, and Eastern Regions, I have seen forests transformed into barren expanses, graves of uprooted trees and toxic pits. Once fertile lands have become desolate, their scars impossible to ignore. The very soil refuses to yield crops; the air is laden with the stench of chemicals; and the forests, which once teemed with wildlife, now echo with silence.
I hear the anguished voices of communities lament:
“We are not mining gold anymore; we are mining our own extinction.”
To witness this devastation is to understand that the destruction is not merely measurable in hectares lost or species vanished. It is the systematic dismantling of the natural systems that sustain life itself.
- Poison in Our Water, Death in Our Bodies
I cannot look upon our rivers without feeling the anguish of the communities who rely on them. Mercury and cyanide, poured recklessly into gold-processing operations, seep into wells and aquifers. I have spoken to families in Tarkwa, Dunkwa-on-Offin, and Prestea whose children suffer neurological damage, whose mothers endure reproductive health complications, and whose men face chronic kidney and liver diseases.
Health officials tell me that some rivers are beyond rehabilitation; every glass of water becomes a gamble with life. And yet, these families — particularly the poor — have no alternative. I cannot help but feel a personal responsibility: we are allowing our fellow citizens to be poisoned for the enrichment of a few.
III. Corruption and Complicity: When Power Fuels Destruction
I have followed the rhetoric of governments and institutions for decades: campaigns launched, military task forces deployed, promises of reform echoed in speeches. And yet, the pits deepen, the rivers darken, and the forests die.
Why? Because galamsey thrives under the cloak of political complicity and systemic corruption. Powerful financiers hide behind miners; local authorities exchange inaction for bribes. What should be a national emergency has become a theater of hypocrisy.
I feel a profound sense of moral outrage: this is not merely administrative failure — it is a betrayal of leadership, a denial of our ethical duty to future generations.
- Cultural and Spiritual Erosion: The Betrayal of Asaase Yaa
As a Ghanaian, I have been raised to revere Asaase Yaa — Mother Earth. She is sacred, the nurturer of crops, the holder of ancestral bones, the very essence of life. To witness bulldozers carve through her body without remorse is to witness a violation of the covenant that binds us to our land and our ancestors.
The wisdom of Sankofa, calling us to remember and return to our roots, has been replaced by the folly of instant profit. The communal ethic of Nkabom — our unity — is crushed under individual greed.
“When a people destroy the land that sustains them, they erase their own name from history.”
I feel this loss as a personal wound; the death of Asaase Yaa is the death of conscience in our national heart.
- The Human Cost: Poverty Amidst Gold
I have walked through mining towns where gold lies beneath our feet, yet children run barefoot over barren lands. Young men risk their lives in unstable pits chasing wealth that never reaches them. Women become widowed; children orphaned; families displaced.
Schools crumble while mining sites expand. Fields that once fed villages now lie poisoned. The gold enriches a select few, while the majority live amidst dust, disease, and despair.
I cannot ignore the irony: we are rich in resources but impoverished in humanity. I feel the trauma of a nation whose wealth is bled away while hope is stolen.
- Pathways to Redemption: Reclaiming Our Motherland
From my perspective, Ghana’s survival depends on moral and ecological restoration. The fight against galamsey cannot be rhetorical — it must be a revolution of conscience and ethical commitment.
Steps Toward National Restoration I Believe Are Vital:
- Enforce environmental laws without political interference.
- Restore and reforest degraded lands through targeted ecological rehabilitation.
- Provide sustainable livelihoods for rural youth to reduce dependence on illicit mining.
- Integrate environmental ethics and indigenous wisdom into education.
- Hold political and corporate actors accountable for their complicity.
True wealth, I have come to understand, is not found underground. It resides in clean water, fertile soil, and the health of our people.
VII. Conclusion: A Personal Call to Conscience
To me, galamsey is not simply an environmental issue — it is a mirror reflecting the state of our national soul. It is the slow, deliberate death of our motherland, abetted by our silence and greed.
If Ghana is to live again, her rivers must breathe; her forests must heal; her people must rise — not for profit, but for preservation.
“Let us not inherit a desert where our ancestors left us a garden.”
I write this as both witness and citizen, urging every Ghanaian to embrace the role of custodian of Asaase Yaa. For if she dies, we all die with her.
