Kofi Bentil says galamsey and Ghana's rivers are "worse" under the NDC. At one plant on the River Pra the readings back him; nationally, no one publishes them

Kofi Bentil, Vice President of the policy think tank IMANI Africa, said on TV3's The Key Points that illegal mining, known as galamsey, and the state of Ghana's rivers have got worse under the NDC government. TV3 posted the clip on Instagram on 1 November 2026.

In the clip, Mr Bentil speaks of "the glaring hypocrisy of NDC". He says: "He and his people carried bottles of water around this country and pretended as if Nana Akufo-Addo and his government people were themselves in galamsey." He goes on: "Today, matter of fact, galamsey is worse. Today, matter of fact, our rivers are worse."

Another panellist, who speaks for the NDC side and is not named in the clip, answers: "It's not true. It's not true. I've given you evidence of what we are doing."

QMS News checked the record of both governments: the NPP government of Nana Akufo-Addo, in office until January 2025, and the NDC government of John Dramani Mahama, inaugurated on 7 January 2025.

The bottles: a claim from one side

QMS News found no dated video of NDC figures touring rivers with bottles of water. The account comes from the NPP side. Mr Bentil says it in this clip, and NPP MP Ntim Fordjour said in Parliament on 31 July 2025 that people "went around various rivers and fetched water in bottles", GhanaWeb reported. QMS News treats it as their claim, not as established fact.

The public anger over dirty rivers was real. In September and October 2024, under the NPP government, young people marched in Accra in the #StopGalamseyNow protests, 3News and Rainbow Radio reported. In August 2024, the Sekyere Hemang water treatment plant near Cape Coast was taking in raw water with an average turbidity of 14,000 NTU, a measure of how muddy water is, against the 2,000 NTU it was designed for, according to Ghana Water Limited statements reported by GhanaWeb, Citi Newsroom and GNA. On 4 October 2024 the reading had fallen to 9,000 NTU.

What the NDC promised

During the 2024 campaign, the NDC did not promise to end galamsey within 120 days, Dubawa and Pulse Ghana found. It promised to ban mining in forest reserves within 120 days, and to repeal L.I. 2462, the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations.

L.I. 2462 was passed in 2022 under the NPP government, Mongabay and 3News reported.

Was the promise kept on time?

Counting 120 days from the inauguration on 7 January 2025 gives a deadline of 7 May 2025. In April 2025, the NDC government said it would amend L.I. 2462 rather than repeal it, Ghanamma and Pulse Ghana reported.

The regulations were later revoked, Mongabay and Yen reported. According to Yen, the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Revocation Instrument, 2025 came into force on 10 December 2025. By QMS News's count, that is seven months after the 120-day deadline.

The government's evidence

In August 2026, the Lands Ministry said about 8,900 hectares of forest reserves had been lost to illegal mining, that 258 people had been arrested, and that more than 4,000 excavators were being held at the ports under a tougher clearance system, Citi Newsroom and IMANI Africa reported. The minister compared the lost forest to about 12,500 football fields, Citi Newsroom reported.

Are the rivers worse?

The Daboase water treatment plant takes its water from the River Pra in the Western Region. On 14 August 2026 its raw water measured 11,955 NTU, against the 500 NTU it is permitted to treat, and only two of its four intake pumps were working, Citi Newsroom reported. That comes from one report.

In July 2025, the same plant's reading was about 2,820 NTU, according to Water Resources Commission data cited in an opinion article. That figure comes from one secondary source.

On those numbers, the August 2026 reading at Daboase is about four times the July 2025 one. But the two readings come from different sources, they cover one plant, and turbidity rises in the rainy season. QMS News found no public monthly series of raw-water readings for all of Ghana's water intakes, under either government. Whether the rivers are worse nationally cannot be proven from the published record. In August 2026, the water at Daboase was far above the level the plant is allowed to treat.

The Gold Board

In the same clip, Mr Bentil says: "I support Gold Board. I support the idea of Gold Board. But I have said that even the Gold Board law has issues that we should deal with."

The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) was set up under Act 1140 of 2025 and replaced PMMC. On The Key Points on 11 October 2025, Mr Bentil claimed that 85% of the small-scale gold GoldBod buys comes from galamsey, GhanaWeb and NewsGhana reported. GoldBod's chief executive, Sammy Gyamfi, called in and denied it. He said the board buys only from licensed miners and agents, but admitted there were vulnerabilities in the supply chain, both outlets reported.