Ghana’s environmental crisis has reached a breaking point, with the Centre for Democratic Movement (CDM) unleashing a scathing indictment of President John Dramani Mahama’s administration, accusing it of “gross negligence and complicity” in the escalating illegal mining (galamsey) plague.
The CDM, in a press statement, condemned the government’s performance on environmental protection as a “national disgrace” and an “environmental catastrophe,” stressing a profound betrayal of its 2024 campaign pledges to eradicate illegal mining.
“What we are witnessing under President Mahama’s leadership is not just inaction; it is complicity. The rivers are bleeding. The forests are dying. The people are suffering,” the CDM declared in its blistering statement.
The group paints a grim picture of Ghana’s once-vibrant major rivers, including the Pra, Ankobra, Offin, Tano, and Birim, now reduced to polluted, unsafe remnants of their former glory, victims of unchecked galamsey activities. These vital water bodies, which historically sustained entire communities, are now toxic symbols of governmental failure.
The CDM further excoriated the administration for its failure to implement crucial initiatives, specifically citing the promised Ghana Gold Board (GOLDBOD), the ambitious “Tree for Life” reforestation drive, and critical legislative reforms aimed at protecting water bodies and imposing outright bans on mining in forest reserves and water sources.
“Where are the audits? Where is the legislation? Where is the enforcement? Promises without funding are lies. And the budget has revealed the truth,” the group asserted, pointing to what they termed a “cruel irony” in the allocation of $279 million to GOLDBOD for gold purchases, while critical land and water reclamation programs languish unfunded.
This, the CDM argues, is a “deliberate policy choice that prioritizes revenue over restoration, greed over green, and optics over outcomes.”
President Mahama must act
Branding the government’s environmental record as an “active betrayal of public trust,” the CDM has issued a forceful demand for immediate action, including:
- A full public disclosure of all illegal mining concessions and the individuals behind them.
- A nationwide moratorium on mining in all water bodies, to be strictly enforced by neutral security personnel.
- A comprehensive parliamentary inquiry into the government’s handling of the galamsey crisis.
- The immediate declaration of a State of Emergency in all affected areas.
“If President Mahama cannot take action to save our rivers, then he is no different from those destroying them. Posterity will remember not just the miners with shovels and mercury; but also the leaders who looked away while Ghana bled,” the CDM warned, a chilling prophecy for the administration.