Galamsey menace
Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in our power. - Hugh White
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President John Dramani Mahama is reported to have appealed to the Australian High Commissioner accredited to Ghana for the support to deal with the menace of illegal mining, otherwise known as galamsey. The President gave the assurance that the government is prepared to firmly deal with the menace.
It is imperative for the President to live the talk because there are many Ghanaians who genuinely feel that the activities of the illegal miners have the tacit support of political leaders and traditional authorities. Many point to the situation at Obuasi, where the AngloGold Ashanti, the company had to report the Ghana government to an international body before the government seemed to have awakened from a self-imposed stupor. Indeed, AngloGold Ashanti suffered immeasurably from the blatant and open defiance of the illegal miners with the untimely death of its affable Corporate Affairs Manager, John Owusu.
As part of efforts to tame the uncontrolled destruction by the illegal miners and following their invasion of the concession of the company, the government provided military security for the protection of the concession that kept the illegal miners away. Somehow, the company woke up one morning to realised that the security personnel had been withdrawn. Overnight, hundreds of illegal miners armed to the teeth besieged the place digging everywhere. Nobody in government seemed to bother about the unlawful act until the accidental death of Mr Owusu, when the monitoring team of the company had to beat a retreat when it came under attack from the galamsey operators.
Beyond the Ghanaians there are equally Chinese miners who are diffused all over our country engaged in illegal mining. Most of these Chinese are noted to own concessions with Ghanaians as front men. There is hushed discourse to the extent that most of these Chinese have the backing of some chiefs and politicians. Indeed, in one instance around Dunkwa, allegations were made against a district chief executive as the brain behind the illegal mining activities.
There have been lame or lukewarm reactions fuelling the speculation that politicians and traditional rulers are benefiting from the illegal miners. Whatever it is, many believe that if we are ready and prepared to fight the menace we would succeed. Therefore, with the assurance of the President that the government is ready and prepared to uproot the canker, we would anxiously wait and see what will happen.
Many Ghanaians are concerned about the illegal mining activities not only because the Chinese are involved or that concessions of big mining companies have been encroached upon. Many are worried because, the use of chemicals even by the big companies are sometimes not controlled, such that spillage of cyanide is not uncommon. Thus, even if the activities of the bigger mining companies are fraught with accidental spillage of dangerous and harmful chemicals, then what about the illegal miners who do not follow any guidelines.
Today, most of our water bodies have been destroyed beyond recovery. The rivers including the legendary Birim, the pride of the Akyems is more than dead. Many doubt whether there are any living organisms in the river. We cannot drink water from most of our rivers. So we are counting the losses.
What we must foresee is the fact that with the continued use of chemicals, the land would one day be saturated with these chemicals and will no longer be able to serve our agricultural purposes. Not only that, chemicals will abound everywhere that it will not be safe for our livelihood.
The land and our water bodies do not only serve for economic purposes, they also represent our heritage and our future. We cannot mortgage the future for anything. Whatever resources that exist in our lands must be for the good of our people. There is no benefit from any enterprise, if at the end of the day it takes away the comfort and safety of the very people it was established to serve. We cannot allow a few deviant individuals in the name of political partisanship or chieftaincy to destroy the future of the people.
That is why we must not just passively sit and watch activities and the concomitant destruction by illegal miners become diffused and overwhelming. The illegal miners have been spawned and if we are not careful, they will grow into untameable monsters that will turn round to devour the entire heritage.
We cannot allow the Chinese to team up with our own people to destroy the land, water bodies and run to another country to help us deal with the menace. We have waited too long and therefore, there is no more time to waste in dealing ruthlessly with the galamsey menace.