I thank you, the Newsfile Production Team for the invitation to engage your esteemed audience on this critical subject. Permit me to use this opportunity to pay tribute to all those that have engaged with this critical issue and contributed in diverse ways to create the needed awareness and worked hard to find lasting solutions. I am only adding my voice to the urgent call for action.
As a Ghanaian, with family ties to Manso Atwere (a small town devastated by over 50 years, and still counting chieftaincy dispute – hence a free-for-all zone for galamsey) in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region, I have first-hand information and I dare say some experience of the destruction caused by illegal mining.
Indeed, the current events and manifestations due to illegal mining across the country deepen my worry. It is an understatement to say that we are a nation under attack. When terrorism is mentioned in the West African sub-region, attention is focused on our borders.
Meanwhile, we have birthed and nurtured internal terrorism – galamsey, which is striking us where it hurts most: Illegal mining is poisoning our riverbeds; it has knocked out our ‘golden pod cocoa’ that gives us a premium price on the world market; therefore, weakening our economic base. Some of our towns and villages sit on galamsey tunnels. Illicit mining threatens the integrity of our limited roads and highways and our children’s future is at stake. Honestly, there is cause for alarm.
To my country women and men – We are the nice and world-acclaimed hospitable people. But I do not hesitate to say that nice and hospitable people do not stand unconcerned when the entire country’s Environmental Protection and Ecosystem Preservation is at stake.
Nice people who are proud of their culture and heritage do not keep quiet when Water Quality and Availability have become a growing problem, and public health risks are increasing at a pace that our health infrastructure cannot cope with.
In fact, nice people act when they start experiencing rising social instability due to socio-economic menace like galamsey-induced community conflicts.
The Ghanaian I grew up knowing ought, not, to accept a situation where illegal mining is fuelling disputes over land and resources, causing tensions between different groups and institutions.
Again, nice people speak out when a socio-economic menace driven by a greedy brigade in society, causes the country to experience adverse economic impact.
Nice and highly religious people do not get immune to illegal mining that promotes child labour and exploitation that consequently deprives a segment of our children their right to education and exposes them to dangerous working conditions.
To the President of Ghana – His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, I understand you are seeking more time for discussions with the representatives of Organised Labour to reach an amicable agreement on their demands. But I ask, what would Ghana and your presidency lose if, in the interim, Your Excellency decides and causes to be announced that, 1) No further mining concessions and licenses should be approved and 2) initiate under a certificate of emergency the repeal of that calamitous LI. 2462 that legally permits mining in forest reserves, passed under your hand in November 2022 – for a reasonable period, until the prevailing HUGE regulatory vacuum in this sector is filled?
Finally, to All Ghanaians seeking political office, come December 7th, 2024. I think that the political playbook you are implementing now is to play the ostrich on the ongoing galamsey menace debate, in order not to be disadvantaged as far as the ‘galamsey votes’ are concerned. The code name is ‘Operation prioritise winning political power’ over everything else…
To you, I say that Galamsey only has days to reach a tipping point and we have no business folding our arms or planning only to attempt to protect our heritage after elections. You may win power on 7th December 2024 only to inherit a country with unhealthy human resource that is unfit to build the country you want. You will rather spend all your term in political office trying hard to resuscitate the Galamsey battered and butchered Ghana. Let’s remember the good old saying that ‘A stitch in time saves nine’ and join the effort to deal with the problem of Galamsey menace right away, rather than waiting until it becomes more difficult and takes longer to fix.
May, the True Ghanaian stand today to be counted in this fight against the menace of illegal mining. I thank you.
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