Making visible the galamsey scandals in Ghana: Digital media as new technologies of democratic accountability

Abstract

Traditional artisanal mining used to be the time-honoured and environmentally friendly livelihood activity of rural communities in Ghana. But under the pretext of artisanal and small-scale mining, it has been seized by the power-elites and transformed to the most environmentally and socially catastrophic industry in Ghana. Because of this, the militarized fight by the state against illegal mining is infested by political scandals. In this article, we demonstrate the ways in which the affordances of digital media are making it possible for both traditional and new media to capture and publicise these scandals. We draw mainly on internet sources where news stories, documents, audios, and videos have served as the mediated visibility of galamsey political scandals in Ghana. Zeroing in on the bombshell leakage of the Frimpong-Boateng galamsey report on social media, we argue that digital media is making visible the power-elites hidden in the cloak of the military fight against galamsey to pillage the environment for wealth. The leakage and the public vitriol it generated against the incumbent government of Ghana illustrate the watchdog potential of the affordances of new media in the era of the ICT revolution.