A young Ghanaian woman has made an emotional appeal for justice after alleging that a Chinese illegal miner, commonly known as a galamseyer, abandoned her following a romantic relationship that left her pregnant.
According to the woman, identified as Selina Adu Gyamfi, from Abodom in the Asante Bekwai Municipality, in the Ashanti region, who shared her ordeal in an interview on Kumasi-based Nhyira FM, the Chinese national disappeared just as she discovered she was expecting his child.
She revealed that they began a relationship while he was working at a mining site in one of the galamsey areas in the Ashanti Region, where she often assisted with errands for some of the workers.
“My issue is that some Chinese people came to Abodom, Asante Bekwai, for galamsey. I had a relationship with one of them called Leon. When they were leaving, I didn’t know I was pregnant,” the woman tearfully recounted.
She added that she believed the Chinese galamseyer because he acted like he truly cared. But once she told him that she was pregnant, everything changed.
“He told me he loved me. He used to give me 1,000 cedis a week or sometimes 500 cedis every three days,” she narrated.
She claims the Chinese man became distant and eventually disappeared without a trace. All attempts to contact him have proven futile, leaving her to struggle with the pregnancy alone.
“I called to inform him I was pregnant, and he said he liked it, but I don’t know what people told him; he started avoiding me and eventually blacklisted me,” she said.
Despite reporting the matter to police, which led to Leon’s brief arrest, he was released and has since vanished completely.
She noted that “Leon was good to me while we were together, but now I’m struggling to take care of the child alone. I don’t know where he is.”
As the woman awaits assistance, her story highlights the broader social issues surrounding illegal mining in Ghana and its impact on local communities, especially women.
Ghanaian woman cries out, calls on authorities to help locate her Chinese lover, one Lee Hyung, aka, Bra Yaw, after he abandoned her and their 2-year old child.
According to her, all attempts to contact and reach her baby daddy have proved futile, as he has vanished without any… pic.twitter.com/dYHFJ6122E
— SIKAOFFICIAL🦍 (@SIKAOFFICIAL1) June 27, 2025
Chinese nationals engaged in galamsey have once again come under public scrutiny following reports of widespread destruction of Ghana’s water bodies.
Communities across the country, particularly in the Western, Ashanti, and Eastern Regions, have raised alarm over the increasing pollution of rivers and streams by illegal miners, many of whom are foreign nationals operating without proper documentation or regulation.
Residents say that rivers, which once served as primary sources of drinking water and irrigation, have turned brown, heavily contaminated by the use of harmful chemicals like mercury and cyanide used in gold extraction.
