Former United Nations Senior Governance Advisor, Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah, has thrown his weight behind the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana's assertion that the illegal mining menace, known locally as galamsey, is largely driven by Ghanaian complicity rather than the actions of Chinese nationals.
Speaking on the JoyNews Desk programme, Prof.
Agyeman-Duah described the ambassador's comments as "both valid and timely," adding that it was not the first time such concerns had been raised by the Chinese envoy.
He cited the ambassador's account that many of the Chinese nationals involved in galamsey "are flown into Ghana, land at Kotoka International Airport, and are then transported by buses directly to mining sites." According to the governance expert, "most of these individuals come from rural backgrounds and lack advanced education or sophistication," suggesting the existence of a highly coordinated recruitment and operational network. "This suggests there must be official collusion or systemic failure enabling these foreign nationals to enter the country in large numbers and be shepherded directly to illegal mining operations," Prof.
