Asantehene walks the talk: Cue for galamsey fight

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, last Tuesday added a feather to his already well-decorated cap when he took a decisive action against three traditional rulers to demonstrate his abhorrence of illegal mining, commonly called galamsey.

The three traditional leaders — the Gyaasehene of Sabronum, Nana Awua Gyau Atuomi; the Sabronum's Akyeamehene and the Baamuhene — were said to have acted in ways that lent support to the vandalisation of the environment in the name of galamsey, contrary to cautions of the Asantehene.

More than just an exercise of his authority over Asanteman, the Asantehene’s action, reported in the Wednesday, August 28, 2024 edition of the Daily Graphic, gave expression to effective leadership by that public statement that cost those three chiefs their stools — no matter the sizes, heights and prominence — in Ashanti.

In this period when the fight against galamsey appears to overwhelm the system, the Asantehene has proved equal to the task in a bold manner, setting an example of even the highly placed trio for their supposed indiscretion.

Illegal mining is rife in Ghana, and its effects continue to be documented daily. In the Tuesday, August 27, 2024 edition of the Daily Graphic, the paper carried a report of the Chief Executive Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Opoku Ware

Ampomah, warning that cases of cleft lips in newborns could rise because many drinking water sources had been polluted with heavy metals.

The heavy metals are from chemical compounds used in the mining process to access the mineral resource, usually gold.

Some of those dangerous chemicals used in illegal mining are cyanide and mercury, both proven scientifically to be unhealthy for consumption in any form.

There have also been reports of children being born with other deformities such as the absence of genitals or with only one eye, which are also being linked to galamsey activities.

Indeed, the unbridled desecration of the environment, including forest reserves, has become a threat to the very existence of life, at least, within the local space.

That the activity is called "illegal mining" is an indictment in itself, and enough to warrant every force to uproot it from the system.

But the use of force has yielded limited success, and where any form of success was achieved, it was short-lived.

The brazen defiance by the youth, with the active support of powerful sponsors, to risk their lives, is both a matter of survival and greed. While unemployment remains a challenge and a national security concern, the disregard for the consequences of illegal mining on the lives it supposedly seeks to improve cannot be justified.

When deformities and other health issues increase, it heavily impacts the national health budget. But the country is currently battling many demons on the healthcare front, including the inadequacy or otherwise of health insurance financing, and the financial and logistical means to cater for kidney, cancer and other non-communicable diseases.

All of these, the Daily Graphic believes, make the Asantehene a hero who deserves to be celebrated for showing the way to environmental salvation, a la the fight against the galamsey menace.

He has proven that leadership can exercise authority in a responsible manner to achieve various goals. And he has given practical expression to the "brighten your corner" refrain by acting within his powers to discourage illegal mining among his people.

This exemplary leadership must inspire other state authorities and traditional leaders to be similarly decisive to signal a total abhorrence of galamsey.

It is also the position of the Daily Graphic that those three chiefs must not become mere scapegoats for the sins of a wider public against the environment.

Other efforts must be harmonised to contain the free-for-all pollution and desecration of the environment that endangers everyone.

The Daily Graphic calls on the relevant state agencies and leaders to, at least, complement the effort of Otumfuo Osei Tutu to put the nation on the path of possible success against illegal mining.