Deputy General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr Kwabena Nyarko Otoo, has accused government of failing to honour key commitments it made to the union last year to curb illegal mining and protect the country’s water resources.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on October 13, Dr Otoo said the government has not kept its part of the bargain following an agreement reached after the aborted strike action in 2024.

“In 2025, you will agree that even with that aborted strike action in 2024, we agreed on a number of things with government.

"But it is now clear to everybody that those things we agreed with government, government did not keep it part of the bargain,” he stated.

He warned that the situation has worsened, with illegal mining — popularly known as galamsey — spiralling out of control despite repeated assurances from authorities.

Dr. Otoo said while issues like illegal mining might not appear central to the everyday concerns of workers, such as wages and salaries, the growing environmental crisis poses a grave threat to all citizens.

“If it’s galamsey, there are some people who may think that it is far removed from them, even though that might be a myopic view, but it is what it is,” he noted.

He explained that unions are traditionally organised around bread-and-butter issues like pay and working conditions, which makes it difficult to sustain mass mobilisation around issues like illegal mining.

“So the point I’m making is that if it is not a core issue, like wages and salaries for which unions are trained and for whose unions actually were established to address, it is always difficult to maintain unity around those issues,” Dr. Otoo said.

The TUC’s concern follows weeks of warnings that Ghana risks a major water crisis if government fails to take decisive action against galamsey operations polluting major rivers and threatening water treatment systems across the country.

The union raised the alarm during a recent fact-finding mission to assess the condition of water treatment plants in Kwanyako, Brim, and Akyem in the Central and Eastern Regions.

Dr. Otoo’s comments underscore growing frustration within the labour front over government’s inaction despite multiple promises to clamp down on illegal mining — a menace that continues to destroy farmlands, forests, and vital water bodies.