Economist and lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof. Godfred Alufar Bokpin, has said that illegal mining has failed to benefit the ordinary people involved in it, with the real gains going to a small group of politically connected individuals.
According to him, data from a study conducted recently proves that.
Speaking on Tv3 on Saturday, August 13, he said the widespread perception that galamsey is driven mainly by poverty and unemployment in mining communities is false.
“There is this narrative and it’s a deception that because of unemployment, sustaining livelihoods, that is why people are into this galamsey. A lot of the people you see there they are using them as face shields,” he said.
Citing data from 2012 to date, Prof Bokpin noted that poverty levels in these areas have actually worsened despite the spread of illegal mining activities.
“This illegal mining has not really benefitted the low-end people in those communities,” he said.
He explained, “If you check the data, between 2012 to date, poverty reduction really has worsened. So if we are saying that so many Ghanaians into this galamsey is because of lack of employment alternatives, it is not impacting their life.”
Prof. Bokpin argued that the people who truly benefit are those financing the operations.
“Those vulnerable poor Ghanaians are not the ones importing these excavators and the rest of them. This is a clear case of hijack. Some few people, greedy people who don’t have this nation at their heart, politically connected and all of that, if we are not careful, we’ll all die in this.”
He added that visits to mining communities revealed how locals had nothing to show for their involvement despite the risks to their health and lives.
“People who are wasting their lives, dying, taking too much risk,” he expressed
“If you look at the value chain, it’s just some few people mostly in the urban areas who are profiting and you see the link with the political financing regime schemes which more or less makes it difficult for people in power to take the right decision,” he noted.
