Member of Parliament for Effutu and Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of actively enabling and financing illegal mining (galamsey) through the newly formed Ghana Gold Board (GOLDBOD).
Speaking on the floor of Parliament during the debate on the 2026 Budget Statement on Thursday, November 27, Afenyo-Markin said the government’s decision to allow GOLDBOD to purchase gold directly from small-scale miners amounts to state sponsorship of unregulated and illegal mining activities.
“This government has surrendered to the galamsey activities. This government has become its enabler,” the Minority Leader declared.
He argued that the budget announcement empowering GOLDBOD to buy gold from small-scale miners directly contradicts the government’s repeated claims of fighting illegal mining.
“In this budget, the government announced the Gold Board to purchase gold from small-scale miners. They are not fighting illegal mining. The NDC government, through the Gold Board, is rather financing it. This is giving it state endorsement,” he stated.
Afenyo-Markin stressed that the policy allows the state to buy gold that cannot be traced to licensed concessions and from miners who cannot be properly verified, thereby creating a system of complicity instead of enforcement.
The Minority Leader also highlighted the dangers faced by personnel involved in anti-galamsey operations, noting that members of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operational Squad (NAIMOS) continue to risk their lives while the government appears to have abandoned the fight.
He recalled the tragic loss of eight lives when personnel were travelling to launch an anti-galamsey programme.
“Today, members of NAIMOS are getting hurt, dead, shot at in a fight their own government has abandoned. Eight lives were lost on their way to launch a programme to fight illegal mining,” he lamented.
Afenyo-Markin maintained that the government has demonstrated neither the seriousness nor the commitment required to defeat illegal mining, accusing it of institutionalising the very practice it claims to be combating.