Dr. Cadman Atta Mills
Dr. Cadman Atta Mills, brother of the late President John Evans Atta Mills, has criticised the government’s approach to tackling illegal mining operations, popularly known as galamsey.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Dr. Mills condemned the environmental destruction caused by both illegal and small-scale mining.
He cautioned that no economic gain, however significant, could justify the escalating harm of galamsey to human health and the environment.
President John Mahama, at a media engagement on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, said he was reluctant to declare a state of emergency, arguing that existing legislation provided adequate powers to tackle the problem.
Ghana Chamber of Mines and civil society organisations, including A Rocha Ghana, have also expressed disappointment with President Mahama’s position on the galamsey menace given his posture when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was in opposition.
But Dr. Mills said, “I will not sacrifice my health or my life to earn praise for President Mahama or the NDC over the cedi’s recovery. What will it take for us to act, Mr. President? This is the water source that sustains a large portion of the Central Region, now contaminated, all in the name of ‘legal small-scale mining’,” he wrote.
His remarks also follow government’s claims that the Ghanaian cedi is stabilising, with some attributing the improvement to increased mining revenues.
Dr. Mills insisted, however, that the human and ecological costs of illegal mining far outweigh any short-term financial benefits.
“This is killing us. Call it galamsey or ‘legal’ small-scale mining (when bankrolled by the politically connected), it is killing us,” he added.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah