Mahama must demand Sammy Gyamfi’s retraction on galamsey – Prof. Appiagyei-Atua
President John Dramani Mahama has been urged to publicly clarify his administration’s position on illegal mining and ask the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, to retract his controversial remarks on the practice.
A lecturer in International Law and Human Rights at the University of Ghana School of Law, Professor Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, said the President needed to intervene to prevent the comments from being interpreted as reflecting the government’s official position on the fight against illegal small-scale mining, popularly known as galamsey.
He argued that failure to publicly disavow the remarks could create the impression that the government accepted or supported them.
Speaking to Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Monday, October 26, Prof. Appiagyei-Atua said the President was best placed to address the controversy because Mr Gyamfi was a senior government appointee whose comments could be associated with the administration.
“The responsibility lies with the President to be able to make sure that what Mr Gyamfi said, he said it in the name of the government. And so, who else is better placed to respond to this question?. Because if you don’t condemn, then you are deemed to be condoning. And I think the President is the one who, as we say, hires and fires,” he said.
Calls for retraction
Prof. Appiagyei-Atua said the President should ensure that the GoldBod CEO publicly clarified his comments and, if necessary, apologised to remove any ambiguity about the government’s stance on illegal mining.
He said such a clarification would help prevent illegal miners from interpreting the remarks as a signal that the government was softening its position on galamsey.
“He should probably ask the GoldBod CEO to come out clearly and state that, ‘Here, you got it wrong. So please, let us not create the impression that we are supporting illegal mining.’ So just come out, retract the statement and then, even if you have to apologise, make the message very clear to the illegal miners that you are not endorsing this practice,” he said.
The professor maintained that the issue went beyond the comments of an individual public official, touching on the government's responsibility to communicate a consistent position on illegal mining.
Galamsey remains a major environmental and public policy concern in Ghana, with illegal mining contributing to the degradation of forests, pollution of water bodies and damage to agricultural land. Efforts to tackle the practice have involved law enforcement, regulation of mining activities and calls for stronger accountability.
‘The law has not changed’
Prof. Appiagyei-Atua also stressed that comments by the GoldBod CEO could not alter the legal framework governing mining in the country.
He said any change to existing laws would have to follow the proper constitutional and legislative processes, rather than be inferred from public statements by government officials.
“The law has not changed. The CEO cannot change the law,” he stated.
His comments underscored the distinction between public statements by government appointees and the laws that regulate mining activities.
The professor said the President should make the administration’s position explicit to avoid confusion over whether the government remained committed to combating illegal mining.
“The President should come out clearly to let us know the position of the government on the galamsey fight and not to endorse the statement made by Mr Gyamfi,” he said.
Government’s position under scrutiny
Prof. Appiagyei-Atua further argued that the remarks needed to be condemned because, in his assessment, they amounted to an endorsement of illegal mining.
His intervention adds to scrutiny of public comments by government officials on galamsey, an issue that has generated sustained public concern because of its environmental, economic and social consequences.
The controversy also raises questions about the responsibility of public officeholders to ensure that their statements are consistent with government policy and the legal obligations governing their respective institutions.
While the professor called on President Mahama to intervene, the substance of the controversy and the government's position would need to be assessed against the full context of Mr Gyamfi’s original remarks and any subsequent clarification from GoldBod or the Presidency.
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