Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II
With an unusual number of treatment plants being shut down by the Ghana Water Company, a situation occasioned by heightened illegal mining activities on water bodies, the Dormaahene’s picture of a declining incidence of illegal mining activities cannot be acceptable.
The water purification and distribution agency have had to take such difficult steps in the face of a consistent declining state of water at their intake points; muddied, arsenic and other heavy metals are proving too challenging to deal with.
The quantity of chemicals the water company must now use has to be increased, the cost and health implications of which should not be glossed over.
In the past eight months or so, food crops from galamsey areas are becoming toxic, a situation which has led to customers seeking to know the source of such items. The picture of reduced galamsey activities in the country as painted by the Dormaahene recently does not correspond with the reality on the grounds.
Last week, after becoming an Appeals Court judge, the Dormaahene gave a pass mark to the government for reducing illegal mining activities in the country.
The observation, a subtle commendation as it were for the government, went viral on especially political platforms because it was not in consonance with the reality on the ground.
The pitch of complaints about the seeming uncontrollable galamsey activities in the country is nearing rooftop, and attempts to change the narrative would incur the wrath of the people.
Our revered chiefs should especially be wary about how they jump into such delicate subjects lest they attract inappropriate reactions from their subjects.
Being custodians of our culture and regarded as representatives of our ancestors, we must be measured in dissecting and even responding to their remarks.
We are however in unchartered waters; the lives of the people have never been so threatened by an occupation which is not responding to treatment as represented by galamsey.
It is on this score that we wish to humbly tell the chief that his observation has attracted wry smiles among many Ghanaians who think that he could be observing the water bodies and forest reserves from another planet.
As a chief, he perhaps has not been briefed sufficiently by his subjects who might have not covered the galamsey hotspots.
National Security reports, restricted as they might be, offer a lot of insights into the galamsey menace.
The illegality has assumed an unprecedented rate, the reason for which reality is not farfetched. There is a certain brazenness among those engaged in the illegality which could be hinged upon the pre-election 2024 campaign promise to such persons by political actors.
The promise to release from imprisonment persons doing time because of their galamsey activities and the condemnation of sending soldiers to chase illegal miners both account for the boldness being exhibited by them.
That President John Mahama directed that Joseph Yamin and Abanga to be investigated by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for their alleged complicity in illegal mining and the subsequent non-action in that direction suggests a non-commitment to fight and eliminate illegal mining.
The recent engagement with civil society organisations (CSOs) and other stakeholders on illegal mining is enough indication that matters regarding galamsey have come to a head.
Sending such signals to government about an abating galamsey is dangerous and does not help the cause of eliminating the menace.
The chief should seek another means of commending government but certainly not in the war against illegal mining, which from all indications has aggravated in scope and reach.