Renowned Ghanaian clergyman, His Eminence Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson, has lamented Ghana's failure to stop the menace of illegal small-scale mining, popularly called galamsey.
Speaking in an interview on TV3's The Big Issue, shared on X on Sunday, October 13, 2024, the Ghanaian prelate and cardinal of the Catholic Church pointed out that galamsey is not only destroying the country's forest reserves and water bodies but is also endangering its economy.
Cardinal Turkson, the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican, added that if the government fails to stop illegal mining, Ghana would veer far from the vision of its first President, Osagyefo Dr.
Kwame Nkrumah, and edge toward becoming a failed state. "If the status quo remains, we'll get to a stage, to put it bluntly, of a failed state.