Criminalise ecocide to help combat galamsey — TGRP

The Green Republic Project (TGRP) has called on the state to make ecocide a crime as a sustainable response to the galamsey crisis currently bedevilling the country.

It said the current laws governing illegal mining focused on punishing culprits for mining without licences, but did not account for the negative effects of illegal mining on the environment, including the pollution of water bodies, which was even more dangerous due to the usage of poisonous and dangerous chemicals such as cyniade and mercury, mining in waterbeds, as well as the large destruction of forests across the country.

The President of TGRP, Nana Yaw Osei-Darkwa, made the call in a statement as his contribution to finding a lasting solution to the galamsey crisis, which poses a clear, present and future danger to the country.

He said the state must take immediate action to criminalise illegal mining practices that led to the destruction of water bodies and large tracts of forests and arable lands.

Those are heinous crimes against humanity that must be punishable by law, he said.

"Why do we not have people held accountable for the mass destruction of our water bodies, forests and arable land?” he questioned.

TGRP

TGRP is a youth-driven climate action organisation committed to helping combat the defining challenge of our time - climate change and global warming - through the planting of trees as a natural remedy to the climate crisis. 

Legislation

Mr Osei-Darkwa indicated that such a law would even keep the large mining companies under scrutiny and ensure that their activities did not lead to the mass destruction of nature.

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"We read of some big mining firms whose activities lead to pollution of water bodies, among others, who go unpunished because they mine lawfully but neglect the environmental hazards caused by irresponsible and unethical mining practices," he stressed.

Politicisation not solution

The TGRP president hinted of the advocacy group’s readiness to help in championing such a cause of passing into law an Ecocide Bill and called on all well-meaning Ghanaians to help safeguard the future of Ghana.

Mr Osei-Darkwa quizzed, "if Genocide is a heinous crime frowned upon and punishable by law, why can't we make ecocide a heinous crime punishable by law since the two are inextricably entwined and inseparable twins representing the different sides of the same coin?

He called on all political parties and the Ghanaian populace to see the galamsey battle as one that needed a concerted effort to overcome and not one to be politicised.

"Finding workable and sustainable solutions to the crisis will not stem from emotional blame game and unnecessary politicisation of the crisis, but from a well-thought-out legal driven solutions like passing a law to make ecocide a crime.

"I believe in the ingenuity of the Ghanaian people in overcoming obstacles if we choose to work together and, therefore, call for a national approach to dealing with the issue going forward.

“Such a dangerous cancer like galamsey can simply not be treated as a subject for politicisation the end result being the wiping of Ghana off the map. That is how serious the crisis is," he stressed.