‘Stop wanton destruction of water resources’
The President of Friends of Rivers and Water Bodies,Nana Dwomoh Sarpong,has called for the strict application of environmental laws to curb the wanton destruction of water resources and fertile lands.
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He wondered why metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) had allowed illegal miners to hold the country to ransom at a time Ghana needed to garner all its natural resources to accelerate its socio-economic development.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on the effects of the degradation of the environment without any concrete action by people in authority, Nana Sarpong said future generations would heap curses on the present generation for supervising the destruction of their heritage.
“There is, therefore, the need to halt such destruction before it develops into canker worms to consume the present and future generations,” he added
Expressing concern over the impunity with which galamsey operators destroyed water resources and fertile lands for their personal gain and its devastating effect on food security, Nana Sarpong said, “There is the need for government officials to initiate stringent measures that will prevent people from destroying water bodies and fertile lands for the purpose of illegal mining.”
Human activities
“Due to human activities, there is severe drought, causing shortage of food across the country, and instead of initiating strict application of environmental laws, people in high office rather complain about the criminal activities of people destroying the environment.
“Maize, plantain, cocoyam, yam and assorted vegetables have not been growing well since the beginning of the year and this has greatly affected food security and the cost of living among ordinary Ghanaians,” Nana Sarpong said.
He said with the continued drought, coupled with the impunity with which illegal miners were degrading river banks, moisture in the soil had been severely affected to undermine farming.
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Underground water
On the effects of galamsey on water bodies, he said those activities did not only deplete water resources but also prevented the recharging of underground water to support the growth of food crops.
“We are joking with our future. This is because Ghana will soon depend on the outside world for basic food, hence the need for those in authority to strictly enforce all environmental laws to create sanity in the system.
“If we don’t initiate basic preventive measures that protect our lands, a few Ghanaians will trade our future for their selfish interest,” he added.