Galamsey plague: time for communities to fight back boldly!
Wouldn’t it have been phenomenal, if the ‘Fix-the-Country’ demonstration earlier this month had included a commitment from the group of some practical actions to help solve the problems they listed?
The movement, which started as a hashtag campaign on social media a few months ago, is described as “a non-partisan and non-political civic movement by Ghanaian youths for Ghana”.
That being so, if their protest on August 4, Founders’ Day, was non-political, not intended to score political points, why can’t they join hands with the Government to fix the problems?
After all, a solving a country’s problems requires the joint effort of the whole society.
One well-known problem confronting the country that immediately comes to mind is illegal gold mining, or, galamsey – to identify it by its better known name.
Interestingly, one of the demonstration placards, reportedly read “Galamsey is unpatriotic behaviour”, meaning that they identify with the urgency of ending that persistent vexation.
Conceivably, an offer by the protestors to help fix, for a start, the galamsey scourge would have underscored their patriotism – and good faith.
Summing up the gravity of the peril, a commentator cited below put it this way: “Ghana is on the edge of a precipice”.
‘Water is life’ says it all. Yet, the illegal miners seem deaf and blind to the adverse effect of their activities, through the chemicals they use, on the suffering communities as well as on the rest of the country.
Obviously, when water sources are contaminated, more money is needed to purify the water and that, naturally, means more demands on taxpayers.
Notably, an article in the August 17 issue of the Daily Dispatch, by A.S. Tetteh, coincided with the circulation on social media platforms of a series of highly disturbing pictures of the current completely polluted state of one of Ghana’s prime water bodies, River Ankobra.
My interest in the pictures was also sparked by a line-up of some machinery on the Ankobra which appeared to be the equipment known as Changfangs.
I had been wondering about the word, ‘Changfang’, until last week when the Government announced their ban and the mystery was solved for me.
As reported by Graphic Online last Friday, August 20:
“The government has ordered local manufacturers to stop producing Changfang machines with immediate effect.
“Changfang motors are floating contraptions used by galamsey operators to wash the ore during mining and contribute to the high pollution of water bodies in the desperate search for gold.
“The latest directive means that no new Changfang machines would be in the system because their importation had been banned earlier,” the Graphic stated.
I had associated Changfangs with Chinese illegal miners.
Indeed, the word ‘changfang’ does sound Chinese! And now it emerges that the machines, or some, are actually manufactured in Ghana!
Why then has it taken the Government so long to ban their manufacture locally?
The following is an abridged version of Mr. Tetteh’s article, published before the ban was announced:
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Ghana is on the edge of a precipice.
The country faces an uphill task of saving its water bodies and forest reserves from the havoc wreaked by illegal mining.
The technological shift, from the use simple tools like pans for alluvial mining to the mounting of Changfangs on river bodies, has occasioned a rate of destruction of flora and fauna which far exceeds the rate of success of past and present anti-illegal mining interventions.
According to the Water Resource Commission, illegal mining activities have resulted in the pollution of 60 per cent of all water bodies in Ghana.
Projections based on current trends also point to acute water shortage in the foreseeable future which will compel the country to import water by 2030 (emphasis added).
These statistics are grim.
Never has the urgency to act and act decisively become more critical for the collective survival of Ghanaians than now.
In February this year, the government launched another intervention dubbed ‘Operation Halt’, which has shown prospects of success due to the application of what some consider to be draconian measures, including the burning of mining equipment on site.
So far, over 2,500 mining equipment has been destroyed.
However, the Operation Halt success is limited in the extent it can go to ensure a total eradication of the illegal mining menace, as it is designed to factor in the infeasible plan of permanently deploying military personnel to guard all river bodies in the country.
Perhaps the time is right for the implementation of other measures which include but are not limited to the ban on the importation or manufacture of Changfang machines (emphasis added).
Failure to adhere to such measures should attract severe punishment either in the form of a hefty fine or a jail term.
The government’s attempt to salvage our waterbodies and forest reserves can only be successful on the back of considerable moral support from the citizenry, Mr Tetteh warned.
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My view is that following the Changfang ban, there are two more facets of the galamsey plague to be tackled.
Firstly, there is urgent need to assist the galamsey cohorts to find an alternative source of income.
Secondly, it’s not only moral support that is needed to defeat the menace but, equally important, there has to be a sustained, bold, fightback by the affected communities.
Traditional rulers, opinion leaders, men and women; the youth, all need to see the fight against galamsey as their fight, principally, not a Government fight.
After all, they are eye witnesses to the destruction of water bodies and attendant harmful effects on their own lives.
They are the immediate victims, so they must be encouraged and empowered to join in the offensive against galamsey, or scale up their resistance; fight as if their lives depend on it.
Enough has been said about the importance of saving our water bodies, stopping galamsey for our collective welfare.