Founder and president of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has admonished the government to up its game in the fight against illegal mining, also known as galamsey.
He says fighting the canker is a cause the President must succeed at all cost.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, Mr. Cudjoe bemoaned the meagre budget disbursed out of the total allocation towards the fight since March this year.
He wants government to release the funds as budgeted towards the menace to fight it head-on.
“Dear John Dramani Mahama, you must succeed in ending galamsey. However, it is troubling if as l hear only GHC8m out of a budgeted allocation of GHC50m has been disbursed for the fight since March 2025,” he posted.
He also described as “counterintuitive”, the purchase of all type of gold by the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), “while resources for the fight against illegal mining are pitifully inadequate.”
Franklin Cudjoe further advised the government not to “act like the proverbial part-time christian who attempts to fight a full time-devil.”
According to him, “galamsey is not a demon”, but rather, “it is the devil” himself.
Galamsey has destroyed forest reserves in the country and polluted water bodies where turbidity levels cannot be treated by the Ghana Water Company Ltd., forcing them to shut down some of their treatment plants.
Recent research has revealed that soil in mining areas where galamsey is prevalent has been contaminated with chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, used by illegal miners, thereby affecting food produced in these areas.
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