Let’s collaborate to end galamsey

The media have awesome power to influence behavioural change in society and that is why free democratic societies have made free media one of the key pillars of the body politic.

The media have the traditional role to educate, inform and entertain, as well as mobilise the people behind all kinds of programmes and campaigns.

For this reason, not only do organisations and individuals seek the support of the media to

promote their businesses; they also court media goodwill and friendship too.

We all acknowledge that the media have the power to do good, but at the same time, the media freedom, if not exercised properly, can be more lethal than a weapon.

It is for this reason that sections of society advocate the curtailment of the unbridled freedom of media practitioners.

Those who advocate this kind of hardline action against the media forget that freedom of expression and the press is not a fundamental right reserved for only journalists. It is a right enjoyed by all citizens to be able to voice their positions on national affairs.

The influence of the media is more overwhelming in this era of new media, when all citizens with access to technology in the form of smart phones can have a say on national issues.

The growing power of the media is also a source of worry to those who think the ethics of journalism are not being respected by practitioners.

They fear the tyranny of the media. Whatever the concern over the abuse of freedom and the growing power of the media, there is no democracy that can thrive without a vibrant media.

Over the years, media practitioners have been at the forefront in the fight against rot in society.

It is against this backdrop that the Daily Graphic commends the media coalition against galamsey for taking the bold step to expose the harm that illegal miners are doing to our vegetation and water bodies.

We are dismayed that as a nation we have looked on helplessly while some unscrupulous compatriots assault our heritage and destroy our country’s water bodies.

The Daily Graphic is worried because the people actually acquiesce and, in some cases, participate in the illegal mining activities. Very important personalities such as politicians, chiefs and security personnel have goaded on these illegal miners to destroy virtually all our water bodies.

Although the action of the government to deal with illegal miners can be said to be late in the day, we can still say: “It is better late than never.”

The Daily Graphic urges all Ghanaians of goodwill to join the fight against illegal mining because any further delay on our part will spell doom for the country.

We wish the media partners in the coalition against galamsey all the best in their endeavours. Let us all help stop galamsey now.

Some Chinese illegal miners busily working on the concession of Anglogold Ashanti in Obuasi