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“I have done illegal mining (galamsey) since age 11. “My father enrolled me in school, but I was a stubborn child; so I took to galamsey. It is a dangerous endeavour.
“When entering the pit, you say your last prayer, because you may not return alive. Sometimes, I cry on my way to the galamsey site because I know that I may not return alive.

“I have seen some of my colleagues die in galamsey pits many times under bizarre circumstances.

“We do not even get any good returns for the risk we take. We work from dawn to dusk, but the big people who lead operations at galamsey sites use all kinds of unfair schemes to deprive us of money.”

This chilling account by 24-year-old Wisdom Kuku tells the ordeal of many young people breaking their backs in galamsey pits in mining communities across the country.

I met the school dropout and dozens of other ‘repented’ illegal miners at Akotom, a mining community in the Prestea Huni Valley in the Western Region, on January 19, 2022.


They were working on a re-afforestation project by Richie Plantation Limited, a private entity contracted by the government to raise seedlings for the reclamation of mined-out lands under the National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme (NAELP).

NAELP

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo launched the NAELP on October 25, 2021 as an intervention to alleviate the hardship of the people affected by the government’s effort to halt galamsey and sanitise the small-scale mining sector.

The programme has six modules - National Land Reclamation and Re-Afforestation Programme, Agriculture and Agro-Processing, Apprenticeship, Skills Training and Entrepreneurship, Responsible, Viable and Sustainable Small-Scale Community Mining, Mine Support Services and Community Enhancements Project.

The President summed up the purpose of NAELP in the following words: “It is intended to provide good economic livelihood options to illegal mining and its associated activities, and to afford those adversely impacted the opportunity to work and support themselves and their families.

“The programme will also focus on reversing the negative impact of illegal mining on the environment through the National Land Reclamation and Re-afforestation component of the programme.”

Since December 2021, Richie Plantation Limited has been working to deliver 10 million seedlings of various tree species such as teak, mahogany, cedrela and coconut at five sites in the Ahafo, Ashanti, Central, Eastern and Western regions.

Field trip

When I met Kuku at the Akotom site, he was among 25 permanent employees and 200 temporary workers busily working to raise three million seedlings on 10-acres.
 
Some women filling poly sacks with soil for nursing seedlings at the Akotom project site

The young men levelled the land, raised beds and heaped piles of dark topsoil, while the all-female temporary workers filled mini-poly sacks with black soil to nurse the seedlings.

Although the project had barely started, some of the women I interacted with said they were earning a decent livelihood already.

Advantage

Happy Havor took advantage of the project to make some income for her family.

"I have been working here for the past three days. They pay us according to the quantum of work we do. If you fill 100 poly bags, you will get GH¢6, and this means that you need to work hard and do 1000 bags so that you can get GH¢60.

For the past three days, I have done 3,120 bags,” she said.

The trip to four of the sites revealed that work was progressing steadily.

At the Terchire project site located in the Tano North District in the Ahafo Region, the 10 acres had been prepared for nursing the seedlings.

Registers kept by Michael Ofosu Agyir and Richmond Awuah, two of the secretaries at the site, showed that there were 200 permanent employees and 1,000 temporary workers.

The Field Officer, Mr Augustine Sackey, said the target was to raise three million seedlings comprising 1.5 million teak, 1 million cedrela and 500,000 mahogany.

The story was not different from the Fufuo project site in the Ashanti Region.

Work had progressed on an eight-acre land that will host 700,000 seedlings.

Beds had been raised while some women were also seen bagging soil to nurse the seedlings.

At the 40-acre Adinkra project site in the Obuasi municipality in the Ashanti Region, clearing and levelling of the land was ongoing.

Unlike the other sites, there were no workers.

Assurance

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Richie Plantation Limited, Mr Richard Ekow Quansah, was optimistic that with the extent of work done so far, the company would deliver the 10 million seedlings by the end of June.

"We have created access roads and reliable water sources; and everything we need to put in place for the project to be delivered is on course, so we will deliver the seedlings," he stressed.

Mr Quansah added that the project had already exceeded the one million jobs targeted to be created at the five sites.

"What I am happy about is that most of the young men who have been employed to work here were formerly engaged in galamsey, but because of this project, they are making a livelihood without going to the pits," he said.

NAELP lifesaver

The National Coordinator of the NAELP, Dr Louise Carol Serwa Donkor, was optimistic that by the time lifting of seedlings began in June, more jobs would have been created under the project.

She was particularly happy that Richie Plantation Limited had a social security system in place for the workers.

Dr Carol Louise Serwah Donkor, National Coordinator of NAELP, interacting with Mr Richard Ekow Quansah, CEO of Richie Plantation Limited, at the Adinkra project site

"There is dignity in labour. Nobody ever died of their sweat. As long as this re-afforestation project is sustainable, it has a component for workers’ future, which is the payment of Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contribution every month. If you engage in galamsey, there is no SSNIT for you. You destroy the very land and water bodies you need to survive and destroy your life too," she said.

For 28-year-old Alan Kofi Damoah, one of the employees at Richie Plantation, the re-afforestation project was a lifesaver.

"The days of dangerous adventures in galamsey pits are over for me; the days when the police and soldiers come after us at galamsey sites are over; in this job, no police will chase me. I get my daily bread and I can sleep in peace," he said.

Conclusion

The re-afforestation project sites toured revealed that many people in mining communities are willing to embrace the NAELP.

The enthusiasm with which the women and youth worked spoke of a people who are willing to embrace a new life outside galamsey.

If the NAELP is properly implemented, it can be a master stroke to tame the galamsey monster.

However, it is one thing birthing a great idea and another thing translating it into reality.

The good intentions for this project must be followed through so that it is not reduced into an avenue for parochialism and profiteering at the expense of the people targeted to benefit.