On 3rd October 2025, the Ghana Coalition Against Galamsey (GCAG) submitted a letter to President John Dramani Mahama calling for urgent leadership to address illegal mining.
The letter follows the President’s recent dialogue with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) at the Jubilee House in Accra on ways to tackle galamsey. According to the Presidency, the engagement brought together government, faith-based groups, advocacy organisations, professional bodies, and mining-related associations to explore practical solutions to a problem that has devastated farmlands, polluted rivers, and threatened livelihoods.
In the letter, GCAG cited findings from the EPA and Pure Earth’s Heavy Metals Impact Assessment, which recorded mercury levels in Konongo Zongo soil at 560% above safety limits and arsenic concentrations in water sources at 330 times above national standards. The report links these exposures to kidney disorders, mercury found in children, and pregnancy losses.
In health, the report concludes that the “cumulative exposure to this cocktail of toxic metals through multiple pathways… is a serious health hazard.” We are seeing the direct outcomes: children with kidney disorders and mercury pellets in their bodies, and research links hundreds of spontaneous abortions to placental contamination. The neurotoxic threat of mercury to our children’s development is particularly dire.
The coalition also noted the destruction of 1.2 million hectares of farmland, displacement of 500,000 farmers, and river pollution affecting water supplies.
In Agriculture, over 1.2 million hectares of farmland have been destroyed, displacing more than
500,000 farmers and directly threatening our food security, according to the Peasant Farmers
Association of Ghana. The very crops we grow, from kontomire to tubers, are now vectors for these
toxic metals, jeopardising our food systems.
GCAG is asking the President to:
- Provide a roadmap with benchmarks to end galamsey.
- Prosecute key actors, including politically exposed persons.
- Establish fast-track courts for illegal mining cases.
- Protect community activists.
- Confiscate and reclaim illegal mining lands.
- Publish regular reports on water, forests, and food safety.
The coalition concluded that Ghana’s water, food systems, and public health are at risk without decisive government action.
