Galamsey tops Ghana’s most negative online issues in September – IMANI

• Galamsey recorded the most negative sentiment in Ghana’s online political conversations in September, according to IMANI Africa.

• Illegal mining generated 2,647 mentions and a sentiment score of -0.72.

• Narcotics and economic concerns were also among the major issues driving negative online discussions.

The issue recorded 2,647 mentions during the month and registered a mean sentiment score of -0.72, the lowest among the issues monitored under IMANI Africa’s Public Understanding and Literacy for Sentiment and Election Analysis (PULSE).

The analysis examined online political conversations between September 1 and 30, drawing data from X, Facebook, TikTok and other digital and media sources.

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According to IMANI Africa, galamsey remained consistently prominent throughout the month, with its mentions increasing from 505 in the week beginning August 31 to 668 in the final week of September.

The findings come amid continued public and political discussions around illegal mining and its impact on Ghana’s water bodies, environment and communities.

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Narcotics-related issues were another major source of negative sentiment during the month.

The analysis recorded 1,344 mentions for cocaine, with a mean sentiment score of -0.48. EOCO generated 1,939 mentions and recorded a score of -0.34, while the broader narcotics category recorded 393 mentions with a score of -0.34.

IMANI Africa said the narcotics conversation became particularly prominent during the latter part of September, coinciding with parliamentary debates and controversies surrounding alleged cocaine-related activities.

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Economic issues also featured heavily in Ghana’s online political conversation.

Currency-related discussions generated 1,361 mentions, while fuel and energy recorded 1,135. However, the cost of living recorded a more negative sentiment score of -0.25, followed by debt and the IMF at -0.24 and fuel at -0.23.

The government’s Big Push infrastructure programme, meanwhile, recorded a mean sentiment score of +0.28 from 121 mentions, making it one of the more positively discussed economic policy issues in the analysis.

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President John Dramani Mahama remained the most discussed political figure, accounting for 2,745, or 57%, of the 4,838 figure-tagged sentiment readings.

His mean sentiment score was almost neutral at -0.01, while Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin recorded the lowest sentiment score among the seven political figures tracked, at -0.27.

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IMANI Africa noted that its findings are based on a targeted sample of online conversations and should not be interpreted as a direct measure of national public opinion.