Born Livingstone Etse Satekla known as Stonebwoy on the RockSteady Music produced riddim reggae song, “Greedy Men” speaks against illegal mining activities in Ghana which has for decades deteriorated the vegetation and water bodies in these mining communities.
Stonebwoy speaks against illegal mining activities in Ghana using great visuals directed by Yaw Skyface and powerful words which has resulted in various environmental, socio-economic, and human deterioration among individuals. He expressed his emotions which he has been holding on for a long time now into the new song he just released, titled “Greedy men”. In his song he pleaded people stop illegal mining which has the common name “Galamsey”
He had some touching words in his song “because of illegal mining and cocoa production decline, deforestation arisen and violence, crime everyday. Many men shall die because of the greed of another man”.
The artiste who is known to be the voice of the ghetto youths has shared his concerns on such issues in his previous songs like “Black People” and “Run go”.
He opined that galamsey has been our number one problem in Ghana, every government tries solving when they come to power.
“Nationally galamsey represents huge sums in lost revenue and exports. In 2016, the Ghanaian government lost an estimated $ 2.3 billion in fiscal revenues through illegal mining in comparison, the country’s top three major foreign companies collectively produce more than a third of Ghana’s gold production and contribute to above fifty percent 50% of government revenues. Gold royalties alone paid to the government reached $ 207 million in 2019 from $42 million in 2007, led by the performance of key players in the past decade such as kinross or the Galiano- Gold Fields joint venture. Given its scale both in terms of output and labour force with more than three million people living off illegal mining formalizing galamsey practices would represent a critical fiscal boost for the country , even more so now that revenue generation is low on account of the COVID-19 pandemic”. This is a report by Arnaud Liege on galamsey.
Stonebwoy released this inspirational song after Arnaud’s report. He was asked in an interview with Kwame Sefa Kayii on the kokrokoo show hosted on Peace fm what inspired him to bring out such a powerful song. He explained that that has been on his heart since and had wanted to always voice it out.
Watch the official video for “Greedy Men” by Stonebwoy; shot on location in Ghana by Yaw Skyface below;