EPA Raises Alarm Over ‘Domestic Galamsey’ in Accra

The spectre of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, appears to be taking on a disturbing new dimension in Ghana.

Once confined largely to remote forest and riverine areas, the menace is reportedly creeping into residential neighbourhoods in Accra.

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Professor Michael Ayamga-Adongo, has sounded the alarm over what he calls a new variant – an emerging practice where individuals allegedly import ore-bearing rocks and process gold within their homes.

Speaking on Accra-based Citi FM, Prof. Ayamga-Adongo cautioned that such activities could unleash dangerous chemicals, including mercury, into the urban environment.

“The danger is that this is likely to have some implications on pollution, even in our cities. It’s a new variant.

“Somebody just alerted me over the weekend that it was already a practice that some foreign nationals did some time ago, but they look like they want to revert to it.”

The EPA Deputy CEO emphasised that illegal mining is no longer limited to the countryside or forest reserves, warning that “greedy people” are constantly innovating new ways to sustain their illicit operations.

“Everybody needs to understand that it’s not only in the forest that people can do galamsey. Those greedy and wicked people have found another way of doing it.

“But it looks like some now see it as an option, that if they can wash gold into our water bodies and the rest, they may bring it to the city and then use water in the city to wash the gold.”

According to Prof. Ayamga-Adongo, the intensified national crackdown on illegal mining under initiatives such as NAIMOS has forced some perpetrators to relocate their operations from the hinterlands to urban areas.

“The intensification and the success of NAIMOS and other things in depopulating the galamsey areas and the tightening security is making some unscrupulous people devise new ways of washing gold.”

He warned that the growing shift toward “home-based” gold processing is a national security and environmental concern requiring immediate public awareness and vigilance.

“So they just carry the rocks and then bring them to their homes to wash. And, of course, this is an issue that requires public knowledge and vigilance. And I want to draw that attention.”

Environmental analysts fear that the infiltration of galamsey into urban residential areas could expose thousands of city dwellers to toxic heavy metals, contaminate groundwater sources, and undermine public health.

With Ghana already battling the environmental and economic consequences of illegal mining in its hinterlands, Prof. Ayamga-Adongo’s revelations raise troubling questions about enforcement, urban regulation and the nation’s broader fight against environmental degradation.

 

 

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