A senior presidential advisor, Yaw Osafo Maafo, has placed partial responsibility on traditional leaders for the escalating pollution of river bodies in the country due to illegal mining activities, commonly referred to as "galamsey."

Osafo Maafo expressed his concern that some chiefs in regions affected by illegal mining offer their land to miners, leading to severe water pollution that goes beyond the possibility of purification.

Speaking at the 23rd General Meeting of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in Kwahu Abetifi, Eastern Region, Osafo Maafo stated, "Look at what galamsey is doing to the land, and should we allow monies that a few people want to make to destroy the very base of water that we need to drink? There are areas where you cannot even purify the water and where you can, we are spending more than three times what we used to spend in purification, and all this is happening in the direct face of our chiefs that gave the land for the galamsey."

He also voiced his concern about the growing problem of corruption in Ghana, despite the country's high number of Christians.

"If 72 percent of us are Christians and corruption begins to grow from bad to worse, then there is something wrong with even the message that we give to this 72 percent of the population. We need to do some retrospection and as a country, together with the government, take certain actions to redeem the country from corruption and can’t just keep talking about corruption without doing anything about it."