August 6, 2025, will forever be etched in Ghana’s memory as Black Wednesday.
On this tragic day, a Ghana Air Force Harbin Z-9 helicopter, carrying two cabinet ministers, three officers of the Air Force, and three other distinguished statesmen, crashed at Adansi Akrofum in the Ashanti Region.
They were not on a leisure trip. They were not on a political campaign. They were on a mission, a mission to Obuasi to wage war against one of Ghana’s greatest threats: the Galamsey menace.
Yet, in the line of duty, their lives were abruptly cut short.
Eight gallant men: Minister for Defence Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, Minister for Environment, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Alhaji Murtala Mohammed, Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Alhaji Muniru Mohammed, NDC Vice Chairman Dr. Samuel Sarpong, Acting Deputy NADMO Director-General Samuel Aboagye, Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Twum Ampadu and Sgt. Ernest Addo Mensah.
Their deaths have plunged the nation into mourning. Flags are being flown at half-mast. Speeches of condolence are being read. Tears are being shed. But the question echoes across the land.
Will we mourn and then allow the very evil they died fighting to continue?
This is not the first time that blood has been spilt in the fight against illegal mining.
On 29th May, 2017, the nation was shocked when Major Maxwell Adam Mahama was brutally lynched by a mob at Denkyira Obuasi while leading a military detachment against Galamsey.
Ghana mourned him. A statue was erected in his honour. But eight years later, Galamsey continues unabated, unashamed, and unchallenged to its core financiers.
How many more heroes must fall before we act with the seriousness this crisis demands?
Galamsey is not just an environmental problem.
It is a war, a war with casualties, both visible and invisible. Its negative effects cut across every aspect of our lives:
Health: Communities are drinking mercury-polluted water. Cancer rates are rising. Children are born with deformities and disabilities linked to toxic chemicals. Respiratory diseases spread where the dust and chemicals poison the air.
Education: Farmlands destroyed by galamsey rob parents of livelihoods, forcing children out of school to join illegal mining pits. The future workforce of Ghana is being trained not in classrooms, but in hazardous pits.
Forests: Our green cover, once the pride of West Africa, is being stripped bare. Protected forests are turned into wastelands, killing biodiversity and accelerating climate change.
Water bodies: From the Ankobra to the Pra, from the Offin to the Birim, our rivers, lifelines for millions, are now brown, poisonous, and dying. Entire communities may soon have no safe drinking water.
We should not only honour these eight fallen heroes with speeches and memorials; we should also acknowledge their legacy through meaningful actions. We should honour them by finishing the mission they started.
In my candid opinion, there are two immediate, uncompromising steps to take:
Declare a state of emergency in all our forests and water bodies and in every area where non-industrial mining operates. Halt all illegal operations without delay, as a direct honour to our departed heroes.
Treat galamsey as the war it is. Wars are not fought with press releases; they are fought with decisive force. Equip and mandate our military to dismantle these illegal networks and bring their financiers to justice before they destroy us entirely.
Every Ghanaian must understand: this is not just about the environment; it is about survival. If we fail to act, the destruction will not stop at the rivers and the forests.
It will seep into our food, our homes, and the very health of generations unborn.
Let us not, eight years from now, gather again to mourn more names, build more statues, and write more emotional tributes while Galamsey thrives.
To the families of the victims, we extend our deepest condolences.
May your souls rest not only in peace but also in the assurance that your sacrifice will not be in vain.
Ghana owes you more than words. Ghana owes you victory over Galamsey. REST IN PEACE.
Source: Daniel Payne
