President Nana Akufo-Addo has acknowledged the challenges his administration has faced in its effort to combat illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey, in the country.

According to him, he was aware that fighting galamsey was not a popular position for a president to take, and achieving success in this area would not be easy.

He made these remarks in Parliament on Friday, January 3, during his final State of the Nation Address.

The President referred to his inaugural speech on January 7, 2017, when he made a public commitment to tackle galamsey, which had devastated Ghana’s environment and destroyed lands and water bodies in the pursuit of gold mining.

• Read also: I put my presidency on the line for galamsey fight – Akufo-Addo

He explained that he knew the promise he was making to tackle galamsey and the vow to put his presidency on the line would not be an easy feat.

“I knew, and was very much aware, that fighting galamsey was not a universally popular position for a president to take,” he said.

“But I felt strongly enough about the need to protect our environment to say I was prepared to put my presidency on the line in defense of our lands and water bodies.”

President Akufo-Addo further stated that the fight against galamsey directly contributed to the loss of several parliamentary seats in the 2020 elections by his party members.

According to him, this led to the formation of the hung eighth parliament, which affected the implementation of his policy agenda and impacted the second term of his presidency.

The President welcomed the many newfound advocates for the fight against galamsey who emerged in the lead-up to the 2024 elections and expressed hope that more people would come to embrace the need to protect the country’s lands and water bodies.

President Akufo-Addo added that the fight against galamsey is not a battle against mining or the extraction of the gold that God has so generously endowed Ghana with.

“But we owe it to future generations of Ghanaians to extract our minerals in a manner that protects our lands and water bodies,” he stated.

He expressed pride in his government’s ability to implement some of the boldest and most progressive policies in the mining, forestry, and land sectors.

He noted that this progress has led to Ghana surpassing South Africa as the leading gold producer on the continent, with the country consistently increasing gold production to reach an unprecedented 4 million ounces last year.