This tragedy must count for something

Last Wednesday, the country was struck by a national tragedy when a military helicopter carrying eight people, including two ministers of state, crashed in the Ashanti Region, killing all on board.

The victims included the Minister of Defence, Dr Edward Omane Boamah; the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, and the three flight crew members, namely Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, the pilot on the helicopter; Flying Officer Manaen Twum Ampadu, co-pilot; and Sergeant Ernest Addo-Mensah.

Also on the flight were the acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Alhaji Muniru Mohammed, who was on his first official assignment since his appointment a fortnight ago; a National Vice-Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Samuel Sarpong; and a parliamentary candidate in the 2024 elections and Deputy Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Samuel Aboagye.

President John Dramani Mahama consequently declared three days of mourning and cancelled all his scheduled events for the rest of the week.

The government further instructed that the national flag must fly at half mast in recognition of the national loss.

Beyond these symbolic declarations, the enormity of this tragedy cannot be lost on citizens. 

The aircraft was transporting the state officials and their colleagues to the launch of the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP), an initiative woven into the complex fight against illegal mining, commonly called galamsey.

Galamsey has become an existential threat to the national system, attracting droves of youth into the dangerous pits and sites where they contaminate water bodies and the soil, and leave the entire environment poisoned.

In recent times, local scientists have traced the presence of heavy metals, including mercury, in foodstuffs to galamsey activities in farming areas.

Medical doctors have also linked recent deformities in newborns to the consumption of these contaminants. 

All of these reinforce the necessity to end galamsey by any means.

The rCOMSDEP is, therefore, an alternative livelihood activity meant to sustain the economic lives of the youth while saving the environment from the current devastation.

It is a multi-sectoral initiative designed as a relevant part of the overall effort to end the galamsey scourge.

It is unfortunate that its launch became the Waterloo of the eight. 

The impact of illegal mining cannot be downplayed. Its hands and footprints are intricately woven into the economic and social fabric of the contemporary Ghanaian society, with a band of supposed powerful sponsors driving the environmental devastation.

Every day, state security continues to arrest illegal miners, seize heavy-duty machines and equipment, and drive them from water sources and forest areas to rid the system of their activities.

But all of these efforts have not achieved much. Worst still, the next new dimension to fight youth interest in illegal mining has led to the death of eight men.

The nation, therefore, mourns their death, while still enduring the unpatriotic activities of the environmental dinosaurs.

There is, however, a chance to honour their memory, their efforts and their service to the nation.

This is the chance to tackle the looming environmental catastrophe and triumph most decisively.

It is a chance to deploy the most ruthless measure to weed out the nation wreckers and their accomplices from the forest reserves, water bodies, and anywhere their unholy adventures have taken them.

It cannot be that the eight or any one of them died for nothing.

Given the unison of the national grief and the outpour of tributes to the fallen eight, their honour is almost assured in the national psyche. But what better tribute could they receive than to win the galamsey fight in their honour?

Earlier efforts to overcome the galamsey scourge have been no more than half-hearted commitments. In the long term, the menace has festered and survived.

For instance, Major Maxwell Mahama’s death did not do more than the sentencing of the culprits.

This is what galamsey has cost the country. The loss of the eight must inspire a win against the environmental crime.