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 Mr Ransford Tetteh (left) making a remark after the presentation. Others in the picture are Mr Gerald Bonsu (2nd left), Mr Dominic Antwi Boateng, Ms Eunice Adjei, all from Kasapreko, and Ms Doreen Hammond (right), Features Editor, Daily Graphic
Mr Ransford Tetteh (left) making a remark after the presentation. Others in the picture are Mr Gerald Bonsu (2nd left), Mr Dominic Antwi Boateng, Ms Eunice Adjei, all from Kasapreko, and Ms Doreen Hammond (right), Features Editor, Daily Graphic

Graphic, GIBA, media partners to launch campaign to stop galamsey

The Graphic Communications Group Ltd (GCGL) is seeking a partnership with the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) and other media organisations to stop illegal mining activities, otherwise called ‘galamsey’, in the country.

The Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, who announced this in Accra yesterday, said the time had come for Ghanaians to speak out boldly against the galamsey menace and take concrete action to get the government to use the power of the state to stop illegal miners and their foreign collaborators from further destroying the country’s water bodies and vegetation.

He was speaking at a ceremony in Accra where Kasapreko Company Limited (KCL), producers of alcoholic and non- alcoholic beverages, presented 30 cartons of its Awake bottled water to the Daily Graphic.

Mr Tetteh said the GCGL was seeking the support of other media partners to launch a campaign to protect the country’s water bodies from further pollution. 

The donation was part of the company’s events to mark World Water Day, which fell yesterday.

Water bodies campaign

With the country’s water bodies being heavily polluted by illegal mining, Mr Tetteh said, the company would soon launch a campaign to drum home the dangers of the illegal mining menace to water availability.

“It is a campaign to protect our water bodies. The Pra, Tano and Birim are almost gone. It is only the Volta that is reliable. We need to fight this menace or we will end up importing water,” he said.

He solicited for the company’s support saying, “When that time comes, we will be knocking on your door.”

The  Deputy Commercial Director of  KCL, Mr Gerald Bonsu, said the company had made similar donations to other media houses as part of an advocacy to the public to drink clean water.

“We see Graphic as one of our key partners to support our campaign. Water is life and we believe that everybody should have to access it,” he said.

He said as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility, for every bottle of water the company sold, one pesewa was donated to the National Cardiothoracic Centre.

Mr Bonsu said the company had so far paid GH¢226,000 to the centre.

Campaign against polluted

When reached for his reaction to the proposed campaign by the GCGL and GIBA, the President of GIBA, Mr Akwasi Agyeman, said the broadcasters would use the power of broadcasting to support the campaign to stop galamsey.

He said GIBA would marshall all their resources to make the campaign a resounding success.

The Chairman of the Council of Elders of GIBA, Chief Crystal-Djirakor, commended the GCGL and GIBA for the planned campaign against galamsey and urged all well-meaning Ghanaians and Corporate Ghana to support the initiative.

World Water Day

World Water Day is celebrated on  March 22 every year. It  is about taking action to tackle the water crisis.

Today, 1.8 billion people use sources of drinking water contaminated with faeces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio.

The Sustainable Development Goals, launched in 2015, include a target to ensure that everyone has access to safe water by 2030, making water a key issue in the fight to eradicate extreme poverty.

 

The United Nations General Assembly officially designated March 22 as World Water Day in 1993. 

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