Osagyefo Mawuse Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a leading voice in Ghana’s civic activism space, has called on young people across the country to rise above partisan divisions and take ownership of the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.
Speaking ahead of a planned anti-galamsey protest and vigil slated for Sunday, September 21, 2025, he declared that the movement to save Ghana’s environment must be youth-led, youth-driven, and rooted in the broader responsibility of safeguarding the nation’s future.
“The anti-Galamsey movement is a youth-led and youth-driven movement. We own it; We own it because we have a responsibility to be the conscience of this country and its broken politics.
“When I say it is youth-led and youth-driven, I do not mean that older Ghanaians do not have a place in the movement. They do! I mean that young people must be its custodians. Older people have paid their dues.”
Osagyefo Mawuse Oliver Barker-Vormawor
According to him, the planned protest marks a rare opportunity for citizens, especially the youth, to mobilize outside the entrenched lines of political parties and focus on holding leaders accountable on an issue that transcends partisan interests. He warned that failure to take this responsibility would amount to a betrayal of both present and future generations.
“This is our only chance to organize outside of party lines. To hold all our leaders accountable, irrespective of party or who we vote for. If we don’t seize that responsibility, we have lost our way, too. And posterity won’t forgive us”.
Osagyefo Mawuse Oliver Barker-Vormawor
The protest will take place in two parts: a vigil on Sunday, September 21, at Revolution Square, and a follow-up march on Monday, September 22, which is a public holiday.
The march is expected to draw wide participation from civil society groups, faith-based organizations, students, and activists committed to environmental justice.
Urgency of Ghana’s Environmental Crisis
Barker-Vormawor explained that the aim is to call attention to the urgency of Ghana’s environmental crisis, which continues to worsen due to the unchecked spread of illegal mining activities.
“The responsibility to protect and preserve the environment is by divine assignment, ours as a people. Our responsibility to end galamsey does not end at elections. Nor does it begin after our party loses one. This is bigger than petty politics.”
Osagyefo Mawuse Oliver Barker-Vormawor
Illegal mining has for years remained one of Ghana’s most pressing environmental threats, devastating water bodies, destroying farmlands, and undermining livelihoods in mining-affected communities.
While the new NDC administration under President John Dramani Mahama has rolled out interventions to address the menace, environmental groups and policy advocates continue to insist that bolder and more comprehensive actions are needed to secure long-term solutions.
Public Support
Public calls for stronger measures have been amplified by leading figures and civil society stakeholders. Cadman Mills, brother of the late President John Evans Atta Mills and a respected member of the NDC, has openly endorsed the upcoming protest, stressing that the galamsey fight requires a united national front.
“In the fight against galamsey, economic and social injustice, and the pursuit of selfish interests to the detriment of the collective, we are all ‘youth’. There can be no party lines, no blame game, no sitting on the fence waiting for others to act. We must mobilize the country around a common purpose: our very survival as a nation.”
Cadman Mills
The growing momentum around the September 21 protest highlights a convergence between civic activism and broader societal concerns about the long-term implications of environmental destruction.
Activists, including faith-based organizations like the Catholic Bishops Conference and advocacy coalitions such as the Coalition Against Illegal Mining, have repeatedly urged the government to adopt stringent measures that go beyond temporary crackdowns and political rhetoric.
For Barker-Vormawor, the upcoming vigil and march represent not only a demonstration against galamsey but also a moral call to duty. Drawing from Ghana’s history of civic struggles, he emphasized that social change has always been driven by citizens willing to act outside the comfort zones of politics-as-usual.
By framing the fight against galamsey as a matter of collective survival rather than partisan rivalry, Barker-Vormawor and his allies hope to set the stage for what could become one of the most significant citizen-led environmental protests in Ghana’s recent history.
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