Before the 2024 general election, President John Mahama voluntarily signed an anti-galamsey pledge. If he doesn’t keep it, the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has threatened to strike.
The National Secretary, Prof. Eliasu Mumuni, and the President of UTAG, Prof. Mamudu Akudugu, jointly signed and released a statement on Sunday, July 20, 2025, stating that while the government’s efforts to combat illegal mining are praiseworthy, more substantial and concerted action is required to permanently eradicate the malaria threat.
“The NEC of UTAG urgently calls on His Excellency, President John Dramani Mahama, to honor the anti-galamsey pledge he voluntarily signed before the 2024 general election. This commitment, enshrined in the National Pledge by Presidential Candidate Taken Against Illegal and Irresponsible Mining (Galamsey) in Ghana, and witnessed by both the Ghana Coalition Against Galamsey (GCAG) and UTAG, constituted a solemn social contract with the Ghanaian people to combat illegal mining and restore environmental integrity,” the statement read.
Given its effects on the health, safety, and well-being of current and future generations, it stated that despite President Mahama’s vow to publicly condemn the practice upon taking office, the government has not yet taken any meaningful steps to fulfil the promise six months into his term.
“UTAG expects the President to fulfil his pledges with urgency and transparency. If concrete steps are not taken promptly, UTAG will not hesitate to activate all constitutionally permitted avenues including industrial action to demand the fulfilment of these national commitments,” he said.
According to UTAG, it firmly feels that “much is left to be desired as the wanton destruction of the environment continues unabated,” even though it acknowledges the government’s modest victories against galamsey through the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources and the security services, especially the Ghana Police Service.
“President Mahama’s assumption of office has not yet yielded the concrete actions required to match the gravity of his pledge. UTAG, as a community of scholars, researchers, and defenders of sustainable development, deems it necessary to remind the President of the specific commitments he made and the urgency with which they must be fulfilled. President Mahama must now walk the talk,”
The President’s promise to use law enforcement organizations like the Ghana Police Service, National Security, Attorney General’s Department, and the Judiciary to stop and reverse the willful destruction of forest reserves, water bodies, and arable lands has not yet been seen, according to UTAG.
The Association further stated that although President Mahama has acknowledged in public that galamsey is a national emergency and that a taskforce is required to stop it, particularly in the forest reserves and water bodies, his actions have not yet “be felt on the ground, as he has continuously declined to declare a state of emergency in galamsey-endemic areas to give practical meaning to the pledge.”
“UTAG further calls on the President to honor additional campaign commitments made to Ghanaians in 2024, including the repeal of L.I. 2462 and the declaration of a state of emergency in galamsey-affected regions. The time for decisive leadership is now. Illegal mining represents an existential threat, devastating our rivers, forests, agricultural lands, and future livelihoods,” the statement emphasized.
