Illegal mining or galamsey has never attracted such attention from a cross section of Ghanaians. While the national conversation the subject has triggered is good, we shudder to state, however, that the discussions have been contaminated with excessive partisanship.
This is not time to apportion blames or award marks for who has done better at managing what by all standards is now a national menace threatening to eat at the fabric of the nation ecologically and spiritually.
We are beginning to learn about how the Atlantic Ocean bordering and a major source of food is also taking its share of the contamination of the water bodies hosting the illegal mining activities. With the rivers finding their way to the ocean, they carry along the poisonous chemicals used by the illegal miners.
Of course, marine life are going to perish as a result of the poisonous chemicals they ingest. Cyanide and other chemicals the illegal miners use recklessly without thoughts about its repercussions are going to have dismal effect on fishing, the livelihood of many and the source of protein for all of us.
The menace confronting us goes beyond the political gossips, name calling and lies we often engage in. Illegal mining is about the life of the nation and so we must gird our loins and fight it head-on.
When matters of this magnitude crop up, it is for us to drop partisanship and consider ourselves as one people, which we are anyway and confront it.
The President has warned his appointees especially the MMDCEs whose areas are illegal mining hotspots that, he would not protect them when they are caught.
We have reached a stage where the President cannot do anything about any reckless appointees who is seen doing galamsey. Such people would soon be stripped naked and exposed to public opprobrium.
With climate change taking its toll across the world, the recent Weija Dam incident occasioned by an unusual collection of water from up-country, we do not have the capacity to contain a heightened illegal mining activity. That will be too much for us to bear.
Even more worrying is the fact that areas which were hitherto outside the scope of the illegal miners are now hosting them; some parts of the Northern regions are now illegal mining spots. As for rivers, every such water body is considered an El Dorado and therefore fit for muddying poisoning.
We have also learnt about babies born with bizarre deformities in areas in the proximity of illegal mining activities.
The picture of a scramble for gold with some of actors originating from neigbouring countries and continents is a worrying trend.
An unusual trend begets an unusual approach to address.
As we pointed out in an earlier commentary, all the templates used so far have failed to address the menace. We cannot continue to apply the unworkable templates to tackle such a national challenge with far-reaching repercussions and steeped in technology-driven sophistication.
Our country is under threat. We repeat: declare war on illegal mining. We are referring to battle order operations with orders to shoot to maim those who show any form of resistance.