The negative health impact of illegal mining or galamsey are beginning to dawn on Ghanaians.
The water bodies are muddied and highly polluted even as the forests lose their cover.
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) have added their voices to the call for action against the illegality because of the health implications of the practice.
A couple of days ago, the latest detail about the impact of the illegality hit Ghanaians in the face. Scary as it is, the time to act on galamsey has never been so urgent.
The arsenic levels in Konongo Zongo soils have been found to be over 40,000 percent higher than the safe limit, according to Pure Earth and Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) Ghana.
That is what we know for now; further studies, there is no doubt, would reveal more.
Our favourite cocoyam leaves or kontomire will soon be too dangerous for consumption as these too have been said to contain levels of mercury.
With the heads of tilapia contaminated with mercury according to an earlier report, this fish species harvested in galamsey areas are no longer safe for consumption.
To therefore think that the galamsey issue is a ping-pong game being played by the two dominant political parties is to be toying with a critical subject which borders upon life and death.
The need for medical examination of children being born in Konongo Zongo as well as other galamsey infested areas cannot be overlooked. The results when these studies are commissioned and completed will shock Ghanaians.
With arsenic level in the soil in a community hitting the level as aforementioned, is an indication of how irresponsible we have become as a people.
It can only be imagined the health fallouts from this disclosure upon the people of Konongo Zongo. The area has many galamseyers, and it is not surprising the results coming out from studies carried out. Many of the youth in the area having been so exposed to mercury and other chemicals of the trade need proper screening to isolate health conditions they definitely have contracted.
With renal cases on the rise even among children, the times cannot be normal.
Matters have gone beyond the media discussions and demand practical tackling of the health and social anomaly.
There are no dividends related to galamsey which are more important than the health of the people.
The recklessness with which the environment is being destroyed by the illegal miners calls for immediate action.
It is unfortunate that some of those who shouted on rooftops under a year ago against galamsey have gone mute. Those with conscience have however stood up against and putting blame where it belongs.
The future of this country could not be more at stake than now when these scary health implications of the illegal mining activities of the wicked persons play on.
Even more worrying is the suspicion that the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) is the official purchaser of the gold sourced from the illegal miners. That is adequate reason to conclude that galamsey has dug in and would require paradigm shift to uproot it or reduce it to the barest minimum.