As the President meets with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to deliberate on the galamsey crisis, the author of the most recent and comprehensive academic work on the subject – State Capture and the Militarized Fight Against Illegal Small-Scale Goldmining in Ghana(Palgrave Macmillan 2025), urges the government to go beyond militarized enforcement and tackle the root problem: state capture.
The book, co-authored by Prof. Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno and the late Dr. Maxwell Akansina Aziabah, is based on rigorous scholarly research and offers fresh insights into why Ghana’s anti-galamsey fight has repeatedly failed.
It features a foreword by Erastus Asare Donkor, the award-winning environmental journalist whose tireless reporting has brought national and international attention to the galamsey crisis.
As Donkor writes, “This book is not just an exposé; it is a call to action. It demands that we, as a nation, confront the cancer of state capture and illegal mining head-on”.
His endorsement underscores the book’s urgency and relevance to Ghana’s environmental and governance struggles.
It argues that illegal small-scale mining is sustained by powerful networks of political, bureaucratic, and business elites who have captured the state and repurposed its institutions for private gain.
According to Prof. Ayelazuno, “The persistence of galamsey is not due to a lack of laws or political will, but because the very institutions mandated to fight it have been co-opted by those who benefit from it. This goes beyond the absence of political will: it reflects the deliberate presence of political won’t. Without confronting this shadow state, no amount of military force will end the crisis”.
The book’s findings show that elite-linked capitalist medium-scale mining (CMM) operations, often protected by political actors, have done greater environmental harm than the traditional artisanal miners (TAM) who depend on mining for survival. Yet, the state’s militarized campaigns have disproportionately targeted these poor miners while shielding the powerful.
Prof Abembia Ayelazuno argues that global best practices show that artisanal and small-scale mining can be sustainable. Dr. Kevin Telmer and the Artisanal Gold Council (https://www.artisanalgold.org) demonstrate that mercury-free processing, community training, and participatory governance can transform ASM into a force for livelihoods and sustainability. These models show Ghana can succeed by adopting inclusive and evidence-based reforms.
Prof. Ayelazuno calls for reforms aligned with the African Union’s Africa Mining Vision (AMV), which emphasises sustainability, transparency, and equitable benefit-sharing.
He urges the creation of an Independent Commission of Inquiry into elite complicity, publication of beneficial ownership data, and recognition of traditional artisanal mining as a legitimate livelihood.
Specifically, Prof. Ayelazuno calls for innovative governance reforms centred on:
- Establishing an Independent Commission of Inquiry into elite complicity in illegal mining.
- Publishing beneficial ownership data for all mining concessions and contracts.
- Reforming the Minerals Commission for transparency and independence.
- Recognizing and formalizing artisanal mining as a legitimate livelihood distinct from CMM.
- Building a cross-party pact on sustainable small-scale mining beyond electoral cycles.
Yet, governance reforms alone are insufficient to reclaim the state from capture. Without transformative political agency from below, rooted in civic consciousness rather than parochial or partisan loyalties, institutional reforms risk being co-opted by the very forces they seek to challenge.
On this, Prof Abembia Ayelazuno recommends the following citizens-based actions:
Reject Parochial Partisanship: Citizens must move beyond blind loyalty to political parties, clans, or ethnic identities that sustain elite capture. True transformation begins when allegiance shifts from party to principle, from tribe to justice.
Embrace Cosmopolitan Citizenship: Ghanaians should view themselves not merely as members of partisan or ethnic blocs, but as global citizens with a shared responsibility to defend democratic accountability, environmental integrity, and the
public good.
Build Class Consciousness: The subaltern classes – miners, farmers, workers – must recognize their common interests against elite exploitation. Class-based solidarity across ethnic and partisan divides is essential for reclaiming the state from capture.
Foster Public Reason and Deliberation: Citizens should cultivate civic competence to critically assess state actions, media narratives, and elite propaganda. This requires investing in civic education, independent media, and spaces for rational public debate.
Practice Everyday Resistance: Drawing inspiration from James Scott’s “weapons of the weak”, citizens can resist elite domination through micro-acts of dissent — whistleblowing, community monitoring, exposing corruption, and refusing to enable illegal mining activities.
Forge Grassroots Movements: Transformative change depends on bottom-up mobilization. Citizens must form cross-regional, issue-based movements — linking miners, youth, women, environmental defenders, and faith groups in a broad coalition
for just and sustainable mining.
Hold Leaders Accountable: Citizens should leverage digital tools, investigative journalism, and participatory governance mechanisms (e.g., citizen scorecards, petitions, public hearings) to demand transparency and responsiveness from the state institutions.
Reclaim the Moral Narrative: Resistance must be anchored in ethical principles, stewardship of the environment, intergenerational justice, and solidarity with marginalised groups, rather than in the pursuit of material patronage or short-term
partisan gains.
Global Solidarity: Ghanaian citizens can align with continental and global movements advocating for environmental justice, fair trade in minerals, and corporate accountability, reinforcing a shared cosmopolitan ethic.
Finally, Prof Abembia Ayelazuno emphasizes that the government’s renewed dialogue with CSOs presents a historic opportunity to reclaim the state from capture, strengthen accountability, and rebuild public trust.
“This is the moment for bold leadership to realign the state with the public interest and restore Ghana’s moral and ecological
integrity,” he noted.
He believes that President Mahama is uniquely poised, both politically and morally, to confront and dismantle the entrenched networks of state capture and the shadow state.
About the Author:
Prof. Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno
University for Development Studies, Tamale
Email: jayelazuno@uds.edu.gh or abembia@yahoo.com Tel: 0242404059
He is the author of the Latest Book on Galamsey Calls for Political Courage to End State Capture in Ghana’s Mining Sector.
