No turning back
Most of the important things in the world have been achieved by people who kept trying when there seemed to be no hope
— Dale Carnegie
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It must now dawn on all of us that the fight against illegal mining has to be handled with determination and commitment. If we allow ourselves to be overcome by emotions, argumentum ad hominem, as some would put it, we would be enmeshed and engulfed by the destruction that illegal mining brings.
Without appearing to support sadism, it cannot be ignored that there is some merit in the saying that there can be no gain without pain.
The incident in the Ashanti Region, where the security task force on the galamsey encountered some illegal miners leading to a fatality, has become an anchor for opposition to the exercise. There are many who are arguing that those involved in the illegal mining activities are not criminals and must therefore be provided alternative means of livelihood before they are chased out. While these arguments cannot be easily dismissed, it must equally be noted that some of the activities of the illegal miners, including the destruction of water bodies and the environment, are more than deadly.
Whole generations would come and suffer for the greed of today. We are more than mortgaging our future heritage and healthy living to these illegal miners. No matter how some see it, we cannot condone the destruction of our lands by a few individuals with money and connection. Many of those involved in the act merely eke out a living by serving as surrogates for a few Ghanaians and their foreign collaborators. Most of the time, large percentages of the illegal miners are not natives from where they conduct their base activities.
As our elders say, it is those who fetch the water who break the pot. However, if any time there is an attempt to fetch water a pot is broken, the water will never ever get to the house. That is why it becomes imperative to appeal to the security personnel engaged in the exercise to demonstrate the greatest care in avoiding the use of brute force. They must be as humane as possible in enforcing the decision to stop galamsey.
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As our elders have time and time again emphasised, when somebody owes you money, you can decide to go there in anger to collect your money. You can equally approach the person with laughter to collect the same debt. However, the difference lies in the approach. Our soldiers and policemen have been trained to withstand stress and provocation and in times like these, they are enjoined to demonstrate that they are trained professionals.
However, that is not to suggest that the security personnel are not human. They also have families and if we do not want any illegal miner to die in the effort to ensure sanity, we equally must never contemplate the loss of any security person for the same cause. So as it is said, when you admonish the cat, you should equally advise the salted meat.
One of the complaints that saturated the public sphere and discourse was the fact that most of the illegal mining activities were sponsored by politicians, traditional leaders and the top echelons of the security personnel. There were some who even feared the possibility of garnering enough political will to prosecute the fight against the menace. So if now we have got the commitment of the political class and the security personnel to heal the nation of the cancer of illegal mining, we must put all differences away and offer our unflinching and unqualified support.
Therefore, while it is regrettable that a life has been lost, we should not be heart-broken and distraught. We must sustain the fight because it is a worthy cause that would in the long term benefit all of us. If we allow the loss to overcome our sense of duty, we would fail and future generations would never forgive us for failing to redeem the heritage at a time that majority of our people were rooting for the total elimination of illegal mining.
We definitely have to mourn the loss of human life, but in terms of dysfunctional effect of illegal mining, the number of individuals who have been killed and buried under the earth in the name of illegal mining cannot be counted.
Whenever there is a pursuit of a cause which the public considers to be worthy, we must reduce factors that erode the public trust and compel them to withdraw their initial support. The fight against illegal mining is a worthy one and must not be littered with unintended acts that upset the public. Our security personnel must act professionally and do their best to let the operation succeed.