By Leticia Adelaide Appiah
On August 6, 2025, a tragic helicopter crash claimed the lives of eight people, among them high-level officials on their way to address Ghana’s illegal mining menace, galamsey. The nation mourns. Yet even in grief, a new and troubling chorus has emerged: “Shoot galamseyers on sight.”
The reasoning is blunt: these miners are “terrorizing” the environment and, indirectly, caused this tragedy by making such missions necessary. But before we load the guns, we must ask: will killing desperate young Ghanaians solve the problem or simply hide it for a while?
The Weak Logic of “Shoot to Kill”
We cannot elect leaders to protect citizens and then condone policies that turn their guns on them. Yes, galamsey causes environmental destruction. Yes, it fuels polluted rivers and damages farmlands. But these miners are not ignorant ‘criminals’ by nature; they are products of our national policy choices.
In my medical work, I once showed a community a magnified image of a mosquito while discussing malaria prevention. A participant calmly noted that the magnified mosquitoes they see on screen are nowhere near the size of those in their community and, therefore, not a concern. Understanding depends on one’s perspective.
For many galamseyers, this is the only livelihood they have ever known.
The Root Cause: A Policy choice Problem, A People Problem, Not Just a Mining Problem nor natural disaster.
At its heart, galamsey is not just about gold; it is about opportunity, or the lack of it.
Poor population policies over decades have created a demographic imbalance: over 11 million Ghanaians between the ages of 15 and 35, many unemployed, underemployed, or unemployable in search of the basics of life at any cost. This is a perfect storm for young, energetic, and restless citizens in regions with few alternative livelihoods.
Chiefs, custodians of the land, can also be tempted by handsome payouts from this activity. In all this, government crackdowns have come and gone, yet the cycle repeats.
Killing galamseyers might bring short-term relief, a political “win”. But it treats the symptoms, not the disease, such as trying to cure severe malaria with only a blood transfusion.
The cause of illness remains. A sustainable and impactful solution must target the drivers:
Data-driven population policy: Address high teen pregnancy rates, unmet need for family planning, and unintended pregnancies. For instance, a United Nations report in 2024 shows that early childbearing has harmful effects on young mothers and their children. Many of such children may end up in galamsey pits.
Integrated development: Link population, economic, social, and environmental planning
Strengthen local governance – Empower chiefs and communities to regulate seasonal mining and protect water bodies as their civic responsibility.
Let those in leadership enlist citizenry in honouring the Fallen with impactful actions.
We owe it to those who died in this tragedy to fight the real battle, not against young miners, but against the conditions that push them into the pits.
Fix our population policies, and we will find it easier to fix employment, education, the environment, our roads and security. If we fail, no amount of bullets will reclaim our rivers or restore our forests but bloodshed in and out of the pits.
Let our grief be a turning point, from reaction to reason, from punishment to prevention. Ghana’s future and sustainable development depends on it.
“The August 6 tragedy and all such should push Ghana to fix its poor population policy and create dignified and sustainable livelihoods, not kill desperate youth.”
Leticia Adelaide Appiah, MD, MPH, PhD
Former Executive Director, National Population Council of Ghana
Author of Human Resource to Human Capital: The Essence of Population Management
