Galamsey: Our families are to blame and not chiefs, Captain Planet

Rapper Captain Planet has indicated that contrary to assumptions that traditional leaders are to blame for illegal mining, popularly known in Ghana as galamsey, it’s rather the ordinary citizens who should bear the blame.

He said this via a tweet, with his handle @CAPTAINPLANETGH, today, Friday, 26 August 2022.

It partially reads:

“The funny thing be say the galamsey koraa e be some of us our parents & families are those engaging [in  it].”

In an earlier tweet, the ‘Abodie’ hitmaker shared a video that captures the head of the Ashanti Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II condemning the nature crime.

He captioned the 2-minute video with the words: “This is Otumfuo condemning Galamsey & some of you people dey act like the man no dey speak against [it].”

It is the video that captured the Ashanti monarch addressing the audience at the maiden event of the ‘Regional Consultative Dialogue on Small Scale Mining’ in the Ashanti Region on Wednesday, 12 May 2022.

The Asantehene had famously said he had told the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, and the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Mr Samuel Jinapor, whom he referred to as “my son,” that “truth be told, as we talk about galamsey, about 30% of the people gathered right here in this place know all those involved in galamsey.”

“For my part, I have already warned my chiefs and elders against participation in such illegalities, and I will not hesitate to strongly sanction any such infraction,” Otumfuo added.

The other half of Captain Planet’s tweet, quoted above, appears to argue that were the [Ashanti] kingdom and its king to swoop down on galamsey operators, they would be met with resistance and accused of tampering with people’s much-needed source of income.

“If the kingdom goes to attack them right now to stop, people will come & say the king is taking food off their tables. Hypocrisy level for here be too high.”

The member of the Ghanaian musical trio, 4×4, was making these comments following recent controversial comments made on Kumasi-based Oyerepa FM by the leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Akwasi Addai ‘Odike’, who is accused by the Kumasi Traditional Council of denigrating the Asante monarch by insinuating that the revered traditional figure is complicit in the nature crime, galamsey, by his inactivity to deal with those who are engaged in it under his watch.

In another tweet today, Friday, 26 August 2022, Captain Planet (CP) cited a screenshot of Odike behind a microphone at the Oyerepa FM studios with the caption:

“He sought to wage a rebellion against Otumfuo and the entire Ashanti Kingdom. Yes, you have the freedom to talk about galamsey, which everybody is against, but his speech seems like a threat and that’s what got him into trouble.”