The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) has expressed deep concern over the growing impact of illegal mining, also known as “galamsey,” on the country’s power infrastructure.

Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Engineering and Operations at GRIDCo, Frank Otchere, described the situation as a “near disaster” during a working visit by Parliament’s Energy Committee on Thursday, September 25, 2025.

He disclosed that illegal miners have increasingly been operating dangerously close to high-voltage transmission towers, particularly within right-of-way corridors cleared for power line maintenance.

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“Now the right-of-way clearing becomes lucrative to ‘galamseyers’. In a number of areas, we go and see that overnight people come and do their ‘galamsey’ activities and it is very close to our towers,” Otchere stated.

He explained that the stability of transmission towers depends heavily on their engineered foundations, which are designed according to the terrain.

Encroachment from mining activities, he cautioned, weakens these foundations and puts the entire transmission network at risk.

“There are some towers that we have had to rush in to do some intermediary reinforcements,” he disclosed.

GRIDCo teams, he added, also face personal danger in carrying out their duties.

“There are some areas that even when our maintenance teams are going, they get shot at and some of them have had to run away,” he indicated.

Otchere stressed that GRIDCo alone cannot manage the escalating threat and appealed for urgent assistance from national security agencies to protect the country’s energy infrastructure.

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“We are getting to a point where GRIDCo alone cannot manage it. We need support from all the forces to be able to do that,” he said.

MRA/VPO

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