Illegal gold mining, or “galamsey” as we call it here in Ghana, has been one of those long-standing problems we’ve all heard about, and many of us have witnessed firsthand. Rivers turned brown, landscapes scarred, communities divided. And for a while, it felt like no one was really doing enough about it.

But this month, something shifted.

On July 8th, President John Mahama officially launched the GOLDBOD Task Force, a new multi-agency team made up of military and security personnel dedicated to cracking down on illegal gold mining and smuggling. It’s backed by real power too: the task force has the authority to arrest and detain offenders. It’s not just talk. It’s action.

This move comes on the heels of another important step, the creation of the Ghana Gold Board earlier this year. The Board now oversees all legal gold transactions and exports by small-scale mining companies. The goal? Cut off the black-market supply chain and bring structure to a sector that’s been operating in the shadows for too long.

President Mahama made it clear: “This signals our readiness to act decisively.”

And for us at Soko Bags, this is encouraging. Because we care about land. We care about water. We care about sustainability, not just in what we produce, but in how our country protects its natural resources.

Illegal mining has destroyed thousands of hectares of farmland and poisoned water systems that people, and ecosystems, depend on. It’s not just a gold issue. It’s a food issue. A climate issue. A future issue.

This new task force could be a turning point, especially with measures like body cameras on officers for transparency and real-time accountability. Of course, as many analysts have pointed out, the true test will be enforcement. Ghana has had strong regulations before, what we need now is consistency and courage to apply them.

So here’s hoping the GOLDBOD Task Force follows through.

Because when rivers run clean, communities thrive. When gold flows through the right hands, our economy strengthens. And when leadership listens to the people, especially the young and unemployed who’ve felt the worst of this crisis, real change becomes possible.

We’ll be watching closely.

#PeoplePlanetGhana
 #SokoForSustainability
 #GalamseyMustGo