President Mahama calls the galamsey fight tough

Ghana's illegal mining mess runs so deep that even a government shakeup just shuffles the same operators to new political patrons.

Mahama on galamsey's deep roots

• President John Dramani Mahama called galamsey deeply entrenched in society.
• Traditional rulers and political appointees are all tangled up.
• Operators just switch loyalty when governments change over.
• Mahama admitted his party has its people involved.

Enforcement struggles on the ground

• NAIMOS faces community-level pushback during crackdowns regularly.
• Chiefs and youth physically resist enforcement teams showing up.
• Mahama conceded that winning this fight overnight is impossible.
• Patrol boats for waterways are missing for nine-month stretches.

The cocoa sector is fueling the problem

• Rock-bottom cocoa prices drove farmers toward gold mining instead.
• Struggling producers simply handed over farmland for galamsey operations.
• Cocoa industry instability keeps feeding the mining pipeline directly.
• The government wants farmers getting 70% of global cocoa prices.

Resource and policy fixes in progress

• An automatic pricing mechanism for cocoa is being developed.
• Stabilized prices could theoretically pull farmers back to agriculture.
• Finance ministry collaboration aims to fund enforcement logistics properly.
• Mahama framed the campaign as difficult but absolutely non-negotiable.