Illegal mining and its attendant destruction of our river bodies and forests continues to be a matter of national concern.
Our country being part of the global ecosystem, the seeming negligence on the part of the government and the citizens calls for a query by the international community. Our reckless management of the environment can impact indirectly other parts of the world. After all, climate change does not recognise political frontiers.
The Amazon, for instance, has attracted the attention of the global anti-climate change crusaders. This part of the world serves as the lungs of the world—providing as scientists claim, twenty percent of global oxygen. The Amazon’s diversity of fauna and flora plays critical roles in the management of global climate.
In our part of the world, the reckless management of our water bodies and forests is disrupting rainfall patterns, resulting in the extreme of weathers. Being part of the world, we and occupants of other parts of the world owe it a duty to ensure proper maintenance of our forests and river bodies.
Lip-service from government is what we have observed, especially since the current crop of politicians assumed the political leadership of this country.
For the umpteenth time, we shall recall how when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were in opposition they screamed to the high heavens about what they claimed was the complicity of government in the destruction of our forests. They demanded that a state of emergency be declared.
At the forefront of the crusade against galamsey was Prof. Ransford Gyampo and others. As the President of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) at the time, he presented himself as a neutral Ghanaian whose obsession was Ghana’s interest. He described himself as the conscience of the nation, but time has exposed who he really is.
The UTAG, which piled pressure on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to deal decisively with illegal mining, is ironically threatening to embark upon an industrial action in protest against galamsey. Times really change.
UTAG’s threat suggests that the university teachers have read between the lines and discovered that the NDC only used them to achieve their electoral goal of winning elections, relying on Prof. Gyampo for the political project.
Their silence would have amounted to hypocrisy, and knowing academia, that should not be their attribute.
Let the teachers not rest on their oars because of the unfinished business of galamsey.
Unfortunately, one of their colleagues, Prof. Gyampo won’t agree with them. For him, the galamsey ended when he landed his appointment as CEO of the Shippers’ Authority.
Not all who scream about societal challenges such as illegal mining are sincere. Some of them unfortunately found themselves trapped in a political chess game they hardly understood at the time they were enlisted. Now they know, and forgiven by the good people of Ghana.