Business leader Sir Sam Jonah has described illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, as an economic, health and moral problem, warning that the pursuit of wealth without responsibility is damaging Ghana’s natural resources.

He said discussions about sustainability must confront the effects of illegal mining on rivers, forests and farmland.

“Rivers that fed our grandparents now run the colour of chocolate milk,” he said.

Sir Sam was delivering the keynote address at Methodist University Ghana’s international conference in Accra on Thursday, October 15, as the university marked its 25th anniversary.

Drawing on his career in the mining industry, he said mining companies and individuals must consider what they leave behind after extracting resources from the earth.

He posed the question of whether mining would leave communities with damaged land and polluted rivers or with lasting benefits such as schools, skills, roads and businesses.

“This is not only an environmental problem. It is an economic problem, a health problem and, in the end, a moral problem,” he said of galamsey.

Sir Sam said the principle of sustainability should also guide how public money and human talent are managed.

He criticised the use of borrowed funds for consumption instead of investment and pointed to abandoned public projects as examples of poor stewardship.

He argued that incomplete projects represent wasted resources, particularly when successive governments begin new projects instead of completing existing ones.

He also expressed concern about skilled young people who struggle to find opportunities after receiving an education, saying a sustainable Africa should provide conditions that allow its talent to contribute at home.

Sir Sam said digital tools could support efforts to improve environmental and public-sector accountability.

He cited satellite data as a means of tracking illegal mining, digital land registries as a way to reduce longstanding land disputes, and digital public procurement systems as a tool for showing citizens how public funds are spent.

“The technology exists. What we need is the will to use it, even when transparency is uncomfortable for the powerful,” he said.

He linked responsible resource management to ethical leadership, arguing that economic gain should not come at the expense of communities and future generations.

His address called for enterprise and innovation to be pursued alongside responsibility for the environment, public resources and society.