Let us uproot galamsey

For far too long we have paid lip service to the fight against galamsey. The activities of illegal miners have contributed to the destruction of rivers and equally destroyed the very basis of agricultural production.

Cocoa and food crop farms have not been spared by the illegal miners. The time has thus come for us to deal firmly and ruthlessly with the menace once and for all.

There are some Ghanaians who are of the view that most of the galamsey operations are funded by politicians and traditional leaders, thus the unwillingness of our governments to fight and uproot the canker. We have virtually abandoned our heritage to these illegal miners who are nothing more than social deviants, who would stop at nothing as far as they have some parochial interests to gain.

We now have two stalwarts in the government who are committed to totally eliminating the galamsey menace from our midst. They are the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, and the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Peter Amewu. Between them, they have functional ideas to contain the destructive phenomenon before it eats us all up.

What they need is the fullest and unalloyed support of every Ghanaian, who is convinced that the environment is not just a means to economic livelihood, but more important a heritage that has been bequeathed to us by our ancestors and it is our responsibility to leave a better heritage for those yet to be born.

The diffused nature of the operations of the illegal miners coupled with the fact that foreigners, especially the Chinese are involved, and our seeming inaction give cause for the speculation that politicians, as well as senior security personnel are involved in the dysfunctional activities.

We have to find the resources and the determination to execute the project to safeguard our water bodies in particular and farmlands, especially, from the mineral diggers. We need to let them appreciate one of the defences put up by Jesus Christ to deflate Satan when Christ was tempted that man must not live by bread alone. Yes there is value for the minerals, but that cannot be justified when water bodies and farmlands are recklessly destroyed.

The time has come for all of us to come together to fight the few individuals who want to jeopardise the public interest and imperil all of us. Whole communities cannot be sacrificed because of a few deviants and fortune seekers. Prof. Frimpong-Boateng and Mr Amewu must be motivated to contain the development. They need the support of our security agencies, especially our soldiers, because that is the only way to protect our environment and heritage.

We allowed logging to devastate our forests and today we are compelled to use wood from young trees such that they decay in no time. We have been confronted with the reality of big rivers drying up for many months in the year. The Ghana Water Company has had to close down water treatment plants because the intake points are dried up. Even where water is readily available, it has been so contaminated with heavy metallic objects that large dosages of chemicals have to be applied to treat it for human consumption.

We cannot idly sit by and mind our own when a few people are causing unquantified and irredeemable destruction of our natural resources. The cost of galamsey is too much a price to be paid and that is why those involved in the illicit trade must be chained before they wreak unfathomable destruction and destroy the future.

As one travels along vast stretches of land in almost all the regions, one is shocked and appalled that our otherwise big rivers have become stagnant and can no longer flow or that the rivers have become muddy. Indeed if care is not taken, our history would be obliterated. The otherwise pride of the Akyems about drinking from the Birim River may no longer be there because the river might be extinct or in its current form, no one would like to drink directly from the river.

It is my hope that the National House of Chiefs, through the Regional Houses and traditional councils would take up the matter of galamsey such that chiefs, as custodians of the land, would proffer advice on how best to protect the natural resources and our heritage. I also know that some members of the Council of State are keen about dealing with the galamsey menace and, therefore, the council will take up the issue as a project.

We should all help Prof. Frimpong-Boateng and Mr Amewu deal ruthlessly with the galamsey menace.