A renowned Ghanaian clergyman and Vatican official, Peter Appiah Turkson, has expressed concern over the government’s inability to curb illegal mining, locally known as galamsey.

Speaking during an interview on TV3’s The Big Issue, Cardinal Turkson warned that the destructive activities of galamsey are not only devastating Ghana’s forests and water bodies but also jeopardizing the nation’s economic future.

Cardinal Turkson cautioned that Ghana is drifting away from the visionary leadership of its first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

He added that if illegal mining persists, the country risks slipping toward the brink of failure.

"If the status quo remains, we'll get to a stage, to put it bluntly, of a failed state. Because, I mean, we've depended on cocoa production. We are basically an economy that was based on mining and agriculture," he said.

He criticised the current mining practices, which not only extract minerals but also destroy surface vegetation, deplete topsoil, and leave behind dangerous open pits.

“Kwame Nkrumah, in his wisdom, asked miners to go down and get the minerals while leaving the surface farming, so we could feed ourselves. That wisdom has been lost. We're not going down to get the minerals, and we're not preserving the surface. We are taking the vegetation, removing the topsoil, and leaving potholes. His vision, according to me, was far more correct than the present or whatever," he said.

Cardinal Turkson stressed that the environmental degradation caused by galamsey will have far-reaching consequences, especially in the era of climate change.

He warned that continued deforestation and soil erosion will severely affect food production and contribute to economic instability.

“If we continue this way, we’ll lose our vegetation, which is something we cannot afford. We lose our topsoil, and food production becomes an issue,” he stated.