This isn’t just about gold — it’s about power
Many don’t realise this yet: China’s illegal involvement in gold mining in Ghana may be tied to a broader geopolitical strategy — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 100-year plan for global dominance.
As far back as 1999, China’s military strategists in the book, Unrestricted Warfare, laid out how economic manipulation, resource control, and environmental disruption could be used to weaken other nations without firing a bullet.
What’s more powerful than controlling your gold? Controlling your water.
From river bodies to ruin: the real cost of Chinese galamsey
The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has repeatedly warned that rivers like the Pra, Ankobra, and Offin are becoming “unwholesome for treatment” (Source: Graphic Online, 2023).
The culprit? Mercury pollution, destruction of river beds, and toxic runoff from illegal mining.
Investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, in his 2020 exposé (“Galamsey Fraud”), showed how Chinese nationals — often in partnership with corrupt local officials — were openly engaging in illegal small-scale mining, flouting Ghanaian law and devastating the environment.
In one shocking 2021 report by Al Jazeera’s Africa Eye, Chinese galamseyers were shown deploying military-grade equipment and financing frontmen with Ghanaian licenses.
These are not “struggling immigrants.” These are state-backed agents, backed by deep pockets.
If you own the rivers, you own the people
Ask yourself this: If Ghana’s major water bodies become untreatable in 10–15 years, who will we rely on for clean water?
China already exports bottled water to over 35 African countries, and companies like Nongfu Spring (China’s largest water brand) are expanding their footprint in Africa.
Is it too far-fetched to imagine a future where Ghana, once rich in rivers, is importing barrels of water from Shanghai because we traded rivers for quick gold?
The Chinese don’t just extract — they calculate. Resource control is strategy.
In their Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has already locked down strategic infrastructure in Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia, and Sri Lanka.
Ghana, with its gold, cocoa, oil, and crumbling environmental policy, is next on the list.
The silence of our leaders is louder than the machines
Where is Parliament? Where are the chiefs? Why are soldiers still protecting foreign illegal miners while our journalists are assaulted and water boards are ignored?
Recently, former Lands Minister Prof. Frimpong-Boateng exposed that powerful officials were shielding Chinese galamsey operators, even after President Akufo-Addo declared a war on illegal mining. That war was lost. But the environmental war is still raging — only we’re not fighting it.
This is not a conspiracy — It’s a strategy
To be clear: not every Chinese national is complicit, and Ghanaian collaborators are just as guilty. But the pattern is undeniable.
A toxic mix of weak governance, foreign exploitation, and short-term greed is setting us up for a long-term dependency.
The next war won’t be fought over gold or oil. It will be over water. And if we allow our rivers to be stolen under our noses — poisoned in exchange for a quick cedi — we’ll wake up one day importing life from the same people who buried our future in mercury and mud.
This piece was written by Samuel Kwame Boadu, Founder, SamBoad
Media and Strategy Consultant – Editorial Contributor & Editor In Chief — Accra Street Journal