Mining of gold is known to be an ancient practice in Ghana, where members of the community engaged in the practice on a small scale without the destruction of the forest and water bodies.
This was when traditional authorities were in charge of our forest reserves until politicians took over, courtesy of the ‘governance system’ of rule.
Since then, our forests have known no peace as ‘greedy’ and ‘corrupt’ politicians have allotted huge portions of our forest reserve to themselves and their cronies, including foreigners, particularly Chinese to mine gold without recourse to the detriment such activities would cause to the people, a typical example being the destruction of the country’s water bodies.
The worst-case scenario is within the last four years where about 60% (per cent) of the country’s forest reserve is estimated to have been destroyed as a result of the activities of what has become known as illegal mining or ‘galamsey’ which is also estimated to have affected about 95% (per cent) of the country’s major river bodies. thereby posing serious health and environmental risks to the people.
What is more worrying is the fact that even in areas where such mining activities are not done, rivers in those areas are also gradually getting polluted because some activities of galamsey are carried out in areas where these rivers carry their tributaries.
A typical example is Agona Kwanyako where the Ayensu River is treated by the Ghana Water Company (GWCL) and distributed to parts of the Central Region such as the Agona, Gomoa and Breman areas has become polluted because of perceived mining activities elsewhere where the river has its tributaries.
Not to talk about the fight against ‘galamsey’ because it seems to be an empty political talk promised by the politicians who turn around to engage in the practice.
The major question now is who is going to lead the fight against ‘galamsey’, as the politicians have failed us. Should it be the Religious groups? Traditional authorities? or the community should take the matter into their own hands?
