The President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, Most Reverend Mathew Kwasi Gyamfi, has described the devastation of illegal mining activities in the country as a social and moral tragedy that has befallen the country.
According to him, the destruction of illegal mining activities on the environment is a silent form of violence against the vulnerable and a sin against creation.
Most Reverend Mathew Kwasi Gyamfi while addressing the 2025 Annual Plenary Assembly in Damongo on November 10, intimated that the fight against galamsey by government is not enough
“The scourge of galamsey continues to corrode both the land and the moral soul of our nation. As of 2023, over 60 percent of Ghana’s rivers and streams were polluted, thirty-four forest reserves compromised, and more than 4,700 hectares of forest destroyed.
“This devastation is not merely ecological-it is a moral and social tragedy. The poor, especially women and children, bear the heaviest burdens of poisoned water, infertile lands, and lost livelihoods,” Rev Gyamfi said.
He added that “Environmental destruction is a silent form of violence against the vulnerable and a sin against creation itself. We maintained that the church through the Green Ghana Campaign and parish-based ecological actions, advocates for all citizens to see creation not as property to exploit but as a sacred gift to protect. “In the spirit of Laudato Si’, caring for creation is both a moral duty and an act of love for generations yet unborn.”
Chieftaincy and Communal Conflicts
Most Reverend Gyamfi lamented how Persistent chieftaincy and ethnic conflicts have continued to disturb the peace of several regions stressing on the Bawku conflict.
“The Bawku crisis remains among the most protracted and devastating, claiming between 200 and 300 lives since renewed hostilities in late 2021. Schools, hospitals, and markets have repeatedly closed, paralysing social and economic life.
“Beyond Bawku, flashpoints such as Yendi, Bimbilla, Nkonya-Alavanyo, and Doba-Kandiga have experienced recurring violence. The humanitarian consequences are grave-internal displacements, broken families, and cross-border refugee inflows.
“Since 2022, more than 15,000 asylum seekers from Burkina Faso have entered northern Ghana, fleeing terrorist attacks in the Sahel. Our local communities, despite poverty, have shown heroic generosity with little external support,” Rev Gyamfi noted.
He emphasized that these realities are a reminder that, peace cannot exist without justice, and security cannot endure without compassion
Election Monitoring and Civic Education
Through its Directorate of Governance, Justice and Peace (DJP) and diocesan commissions, the GCBC has remained a steadfast partner in safeguarding the integrity of our democracy.
During the 2024 elections, the Church collaborated with the Electoral Commission to recruit and train 500 observers deployed across 174 polling stations in 95 constituencies and 14 regions.
A central Election Situation Room, comprising experts from the Ministry of National Security, the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, UNHCR, and civil society, ensured real-time monitoring and response.
“This collaboration exemplified synodality in practice-the Church walking with the nation in truth, vigilance, and civic responsibility,” he said.
For his part, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, Julien Kabore described the Catholic Church as the path to a Church that is truly synodal, because it is truly fraternal.
He underscored the church’s commitment to reconciliation, justice, and peace.
“The sentinel is the one who keeps watch during the night, who refuses to surrender to darkness or fatigue, who listens for the first trembling signs of dawn. In the present moment of our continent, marked still by wounds of conflict, by corruption that threatens the dignity of whole peoples, and by the silent suffering of the poor, the Church in Africa and in Ghana is called to make the voice of Christ heard with clarity and maternal firmness”
“The Church knows that true peace does not arise from negotiations of convenience or from fragile balances of power. Christ Himself tells us: “Not as the world gives do I give peace to you” (Jn 14:27),” he said.
The theme for the 2025 annual plenary assembly in Damongo is “A Synodal Church at the Service of Justice and Peace in Ghana”
