Free Zones CEO warns Pentecost chair over galamsey remarks
A row over illegal mining has taken a sharp and unexpected turn, with a senior government appointee warning one of Ghana’s most prominent church leaders to stay in his lane, or face being treated as a political opponent.
Dr. Mary Awusi, Chief Executive of the Ghana Free Zones Authority, went on Accra FM on Thursday to fire back at Apostle Dr. Eric Nyamekye, Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, whose recent public comments on galamsey appear to have struck a nerve in government circles.
Her warning was blunt. “He’s a man of God, so we’ll forgive him. But next time, he shouldn’t stoop so low to that level. I am telling him. If he descends to that level to behave like a politician, we will deal with him as a politician. I’ve given him reverence because he’s a man of God and the Chairman of the Church of Pentecost,” she said.
What triggered the response was Apostle Nyamekye’s address at the Church’s 48th General Conference, where he raised alarm over the environmental toll of illegal mining, including its effect on the Church’s own sacramental practices. “The extensive pollution of water bodies due to illegal mining has hampered traditional water baptism in some mining communities, necessitating a shift to synthetic rubber pools in several districts to carry out the ordinance,” he had said.
For Dr. Awusi, that was not pastoral concern, it was politics in clerical clothing. She argued that the Church leader’s framing conveniently ignored the state of Ghana’s rivers under the previous administration. “What he said is a highly political statement. When Nana Addo was in office, many communities in the mining communities had their water looking very thick and brown. Was he not in Ghana? Did he see it or not?” she asked.
She went further, insisting that measurable progress has been made under President Mahama. “Today, after John Mahama came to power, due to the measures he has put in place, the rivers are flowing, so you cannot claim that you’ve seen no difference in the state of the water. During Akufo-Addo’s time, the rivers were not flowing at all,” she claimed.
When the programme host pushed back, describing Apostle Nyamekye as an anointed man of God, Dr. Awusi was unmoved. “It’s not about anointing. If he were that anointed, he wouldn’t speak in this manner,” she replied.
Her closing shot left little room for ambiguity. “So, if you’re a reverend minister and you bypass the truth by taking off your pastoral robe and putting on political clothes and a political lens to speak, the next time we’ll treat him as a politician. This time we’ll spare him. We beg of him to focus on his pastoral work,” she said.
The exchange lands in the middle of one of Ghana’s most stubborn and emotionally charged national debates. Galamsey has gutted river systems and forest reserves across the country for years, and successive governments, including both the Akufo-Addo and Mahama administrations, have launched anti-illegal mining drives that critics say have fallen short. Churches, civil society groups, and environmental advocates have grown increasingly vocal in demanding real action, making the space around galamsey commentary more politically loaded than ever.
That a government official would publicly threaten to strip a church chairman of his pastoral courtesy if he speaks again on the matter reflects just how sensitive that space has become.
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