The menace of galamsey brings to mind the famous soul classic sung by Roberta Flack “Killing Me Softly.
Even though the motivation for the song is miles away from its deployment here, it is apt to coin the title here as, in a literal way, galamsey is slowly killing Ghana.
Never in living history has our very existence been challenged in such a dramatic fashion.
You may designate me as a doomsday prophet but a cursory glance at the evidence may soften your stance: that galamsey has become an existential threat with devastating consequences on the environment and humans alike, is beyond argument; the evidence is overwhelming and incontrovertible: our rivers are polluted, our forests are being plundered; our sources of potable water are being depleted; our cocoa plantations, for many years the bread basket of the nation, are being cleared with devastating alacrity; our farming soils are being contaminated; but even worse, our children, the bastion of our survival as a nation, are being born with serious deformities.
If these signs are not existential threats, then, for the life of me, I don’t know what is.
Cry
The cry for action to eliminate this monster is gradually gathering momentum and is on an upward trajectory towards crescendo.
First, the Democracy Hub and Fix the Country movements star in demonstrations and night vigils to drum home the Armageddon into which we are heading if nothing is done.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference recently ‘bawled’ out their disapproval and called on the Government to act swiftly and decisively.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has got in on the act.
The Secretary General, Mr Joshua Ansah, has called for urgent action to end galamsey. Whilst highlighting the environmental consequences of illegal small-scale mining, he lamented that, but for galamsey, the nation would not have lost the lives of the ‘Gallant Eight’ who crashed to their untimely and sad deaths whilst travelling in a helicopter to Obuasi to address galamsey-related issues.
Other civil society organisations, Imani Africa and Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), have called on the Government to act.
These vociferous agitations are on the rise, rendering it inevitable for a Governmental response.
Most of these agitations are calling for a State of Emergency to be declared in mining areas.
These promptings inevitably beg the question of what a State of Emergency means.
A State of Emergency is a formal declaration by a government that due to the occurrence of a situation ‒ civil unrest, natural disaster, armed conflict etc that threatens public safety, health or danger to life, the government is suspending normal governmental and security actions and, in its place, instituting drastic and extraordinary measures such as the imposition of curfews, restrictions on freedom of
Emergency
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand the renewed vigour on the call to end galamsey. The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has proposed a 208 per cent increase in water tariffs, citing the high cost of treating polluted water as the reason.
GWCL claims that turbidity levels have ballooned as a result of galamsey (normal turbidity levels of 2000 ntu have risen to 11,000 ntu in water bodies affected by galamsey). But by far the most alarming news is coming from research scientists.
The recent research findings showed that cocoyam leaves, the main ingredient in my favourite palava sauce, have traces of mercury.
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) says that locally produced turmeric and Tom Brown are showing the same results. Babies born with horrible deformities, scientists say, are the result of poisoning via the mother’s placenta.
The government has, to its credit, acted: some forest reserves reclaimed, ban on the issuance of new licences to mine, numerous excavators (the ace in the arsenal of those nation wreckers) have been seized.
Further, all mining areas are to be declared security zones.
Recently, the President explained that other measures, short of a state of emergency, are being explored.
As a human rights activist, I can see where our President is coming from.
Fundamental rights of citizens are taken away during states of emergency.
Perhaps our President does not want to take that drastic step if, in his opinion, there are other equally effective measures capable of dealing with the problem.
Whilst a declaration of a state of emergency, we hear, is not totally “off the cards”, and will be declared if necessary, one thing is clear: Galamsey is killing us slowly!
The writer is a lawyer.
E-mail: georgebshaw1@gmail.com
