{"id":117493,"date":"2026-03-02T05:45:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T05:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=117493"},"modified":"2026-03-02T05:45:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T05:45:02","slug":"political-influence-turned-galamsey-into-a-monster-former-cj-sophia-akuffo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=117493","title":{"rendered":"Political influence turned galamsey into a monster \u2013 Former CJ Sophia Akuffo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo says illegal mining, aka galamsey, spiralled out of control when people with political influence turned it into a vehicle for quick wealth.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Joy News\u2019PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, she said the country must accept collective responsibility for the crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should all stand condemned for one, irresponsibility and irresponsible governance, because it didn\u2019t start overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

She rejected the argument that galamsey has always existed in its current destructive form.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be those who say there has always been a galamsey,\u201d but she drew a sharp contrast with her childhood memories of life around the Birim River.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the clear waters of my childhood,\u201d she recounted how Saturdays were spent by the river.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of my growing up was in Kyebi. And I remember Saturdays, we would walk down to the Birim, and that\u2019s where we would do the washing of the clothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Children swam freely, she said, without fear. \u201cYou swim, swim, swim, swim, swim, until your eyes are bulging out. We didn\u2019t get bilharzia, we didn\u2019t get any chemical, because it was clear water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Water was even fetched for household use, \u201cbut it was then not out of hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to her, the turning point came when politically connected actors saw profit in the trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it started getting out of hand was when, let\u2019s say, people with political influence saw a source of income or a quick wealth in it, and then it went so completely out of hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the consequences are now frightening.<\/p>\n

Recounting a conversation with a friend, she said: \u201cA friend of mine, I told her, but you told me, you have a house in your hometown, but you\u2019ve never invited me for a weekend or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

The response was chilling. \u201cAnd she said, and I will not, because I myself, I don\u2019t go there anymore because I don\u2019t think it\u2019s safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reason, she explained, was mining activity beneath homes. \u201cThis is because they have been mining underneath her building in the middle of the village.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her, the crisis reflects a dangerous shift in values. \u201cNow it\u2019s wealth at all costs, and it does not matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet she noted that some communities are resisting the tide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still some towns and villages in some of these areas where the people have also said that no matter what, we will not permit anybody, even if you come with a license from the minerals commission, we\u2019re not going to allow you to do any small-scale operation in this place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their choice, she said, is clear. \u201cWe will continue with our farming.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo says illegal mining, aka galamsey, spiralled out of control when people with political influence turned it into a vehicle for quick wealth.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[196,1883,10,9,1363],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-galamsey","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-sophia-akuffo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117493\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}