Author: Israel Salimatu
Ghana, once praised as the “Gold Coast,” is bleeding. The veins of our land are being ripped open, not to feed hungry families, but to satisfy the greed of political operatives and their foreign accomplices.
Illegal gold mining, locally called galamsey, has transformed from a shadowy crime into a full-scale national tragedy – an environmental terrorism silently endorsed by the very leaders sworn to protect us.
Rivers that once ran clear – Ankobra, Pra, Offin, Birim – are now poisoned with mercury and cyanide. Children who once played by their banks now drink slow death.
Forests that shielded us from climate change are now naked, stripped and scarred. Fertile farmlands, once the pride of rural mothers, are reduced to toxic wastelands where nothing grows but despair.
And yet, in the face of this devastation, the President plays antiques with the fight. Grand speeches. Committees. Media stunts. Meanwhile, those close to power are knee-deep in the mud, profiting from the destruction.
Galamsey is no longer a problem of poor, jobless youth – it has become the cash cow of political operatives in the ruling government.
Gold from Ghana today is no longer mined with dignity or respect for life. It is stained – with poisoned rivers, with barren soils, with the cries of children coughing from toxic dust.
Every shiny bar that leaves our shores carries the silent screams of dying ecosystems and broken communities.
The world cannot pretend it does not see.
The U.S.A., the European Union, the Arab League, China, Russia, and all nations that trade with Ghana must ask: What is the price of this gold? Is it worth the lives of unborn children? Is it worth the destruction of a land that once fed an entire people?
The only language corrupt power understands is pressure. And the only way to stop this environmental terrorism is for the world to boycott Ghana’s gold until the madness ends. Every ounce of gold purchased today fuels the poisoning of tomorrow’s generation.
A conscious global stand – refusing to buy bloodstained gold – will force accountability where speeches have failed.
To the mothers whose children now drink mercury-laced water, to the farmers watching their land wither, to the unborn generations robbed of their heritage – the world owes you solidarity.
Ghana’s gold should be a blessing. Today, it is a curse. And unless the world acts, we will soon have nothing left but poisoned rivers, silent forests, and graves where children should be playing.
The choice is clear: boycott Ghana’s gold, save Ghana’s future.
Israel Salimatu
(Environmental Advocate)
