Madam Elizabeth Allua Vaah, a Risk Manager at TD Bank in Canada, and Leader of the Ghana Environmental Advocacy Group, has described as mere showmanship, the government’s fight against galamsey.
As though playing musical chairs, the government is still grappling with sustainably bringing under control, the decades-old bane of illegal and irresponsible mining , Madam Vaah alluded. This is despite the fact that the government has, in so far rolled out several measures to curb this menace.
After nearly five years of embarking on a course correction to restore polluted and silted water bodies as well as degraded farm lands as a result of the activities of illegal mining, this canker continues, with several allegations of some ‘big men’ and government officials being the worst perpetrators of this ‘evil’.
The Deputy Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Mireku Duker is cited to have said that despite the glaring issues, the government has actually stepped up its anti-galamsey drive with a series of key interventions, including: the procurement of Gold Katcha machines to prevent the usage of mercury by small scale miners; the establishment of a community mining scheme; and the reclamation, alternative livelihood, gold traceability and the establishment of a refinery are some of the interventions rolled out by the government.
Speaking to the Vaultz News, Madam Allua Vaah said that while she believes the government itself is to blame for the seeming re-appearance of galamsey after all these years, the communities within which glalamsey activities are recurring are also equally to blame. More importantly, the Environmental Advocacy Group was helping to sensitize the people of the dangers of galamsey, especially in the Western Region, she said.
“We continue to sensitize the chiefs and the people. We blame government for everything, but if you are a chief, if you are a citizen of a town and the only river that your people rely on is being destroyed by some people- whether government people are behind it or some faceless people in your community are behind it and you are also sitting aloof or [being involved in the act]; ask yourself, where is all this mercury going to? Eventually, there is going to be a lot of health impact from them.
“We need the communities to also do that. They have to take control of their own destinies. Otherwise, they’ll have themselves to blame. So that’s where we are focusing our strengths on, because for the government, we’ve seen that whatever they are doing is just for showmanship…”
Elizabeth Vaah
Proposals for Government to Adopt
Recounting the government’s fight against galamsey in its early years, Madam Allua Vaah, noted that her group, incorporated in Canada, submitted a proposal to the government, highlighting several measures the government could adopt to solve this menace, however, whether the government took those measures into consideration is in doubt, the environmental advocate said.
The proposal outlined among other things: the need for the government to undertake massive public education campaign on the dangers of illegal mining, reclaim land areas severely damaged by galamsey, develop and train the youth for alternative livelihoods as a long-term strategy for redirecting and diversifying economic activity in rural areas.
In addition to adopting the above measures, Madam Allua Vaah narrated a situation where people in a community stood up against galamseyers with the help of her group to prevent irresponsible mining activities in the area as a result of the community not having knowledge of such operations in the area.
“They [the communities] have to know and… stand up for their own community and so long as they do that we will back them. We will give them all the support that we can give. And which is what we did when it came to Kwawblay (or Kwabre). The People stood up, their chiefs and everyone said we don’t want this here. They marched on those wayside galamseyers parading with government support as community mining people and drove them out.”
Madam Allua Vaah
A case in point is also cited by MP for Ellembele, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, involving Pekinpat Company Limited, a prospecting licensed company, which is alleged to have given instructions to a group of young men to undertake large-scale mining right in the heart of cocoa farms.
These activities were ongoing at Ewereko, a predominantly cocoa growing community in the Ayinasi-North of the Ellembele District. In this instance, the Assembly member of the area, K. Bonzo is alleged to be in the known of the operations of these people, as well as the district assembly.
It therefore behoves on the government to ensure that a lasting solution to the galamsey menace is found in order to avoid a crisis situation, as it is clear that galamsey is said to be ongoing in 14 out of 16 regions in Ghana. Likewise, the communities should also be equally involved in the fight against galamsey or irresponsible mining in their communities in order to protect their livelihoods and water bodies.
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