Press Release: Minority in Parliament raises concerns over Increased Galamsey activities

Daily Graphic 30^th September 2022, reported a visit of the Minister of Lands on some galamsey sites in the Eastern Region. To our ultimate surprise, the Minister appeared surprised at the unmeasurable destruction of the land and the environment by the Galamsey operators. We recall how the President, Nana Ado Danquah Akufo Ado boasted about getting the right Minister to do a job which we are completely sure he did not intend to do.

Before his announcement of the new Minister whose competence we do not doubt, Ghanaians had been overwhelmed and had been critical about the collaborative destruction of our wet and dry lands throughout the country in the 4years of the Nana Addo NPP’s first term. As usual, this regime’s deceptive promises and sweet words were used to calm down the unsuspecting Ghanaian pointing at a new policy on galamsey. Two years into that ‘new policy” direction on Galamsey,the Minister will fly to the same galamsey sites he promised to salvage to see a more devastating, more painfully destroyed landscape and appeared surprised seeking the Ghanaian populace to bear with this lackluster policy approach.

Twice this year the minority through the Mines and Energy Committee drew the attention of the Government to the relapse in their fight against galamsey. We called on the Ministers responsible to wake up from their long-drawn sleep and save our lands from selfish galamsey operators.

They kept their sleepy mood and allowed the destruction to continue with known government party supporters busily sinking machines into lands all over, including state reserved areas, polluting our fresh waters and destroying farmlands. Even as we worry about the present circumstance and the laughable surprise by the Minister, much more galamsey operations are going on, known to the government and intentionally ignored by its agents! What fight did the President refer to when he announced to the people his determination to eliminate galamsey from our lands? Why will anyone be surprised when it is clear that there were no practical actions to save our lands after the several expensive conferences the government organized targeted at addressing the challenges posed by illegal mining?

The ease at which private citizens, many of foreign background, plunge into our lands and ravage it under this Regime is very worrying. It justifies why many citizens and civil society groups express worry about the future of our country. The free destruction of the land by miners of all classes of description has a damning effect on our cocoa production and on our drinking water.

While at one point oil companies had to import fresh water from neighboring La Cote d’voire our long trading partners, the European Union, are also contemplating banning the purchase of Ghana cocoa because of the high contamination of mercury from irresponsible mining.  It, therefore, did not sound as surprising when a government-friendly civil society group, Occupy Ghana, issued a threat to take the Government to Court over his poor over what it calls government “absolute incompetence, in the face of the brazen destruction of our lands and wanton poisoning of our water bodies”. All this defines the poor handling of the unprecedented destruction of our lands. The situation as we have it now should obviously send signals to the government that not all is right about its pretense to be fighting to save our lands for a future generation.

While we observe what next the Minister and his government will do after his visit and his surprise at seeing the vast destruction of our environment, which we see as only the tip of the iceberg, we urge the minister to wear sharper glasses and open his mind wider to take needed actions. His actions thereafter will help him absolve himself from any blame on him as either a collaborator or an incompetent urgent of the President in a fight for our lands being destroyed with impunity and annoying gusto.

We will like to see the government demonstrate responsibility by stopping this lawless conduct and prosecuting the defaulters and ensuring that companies that are found to be engaged in any illegal mining process reclaim all lands they have destroyed

Contacts

Minority Leader: Hon Haruna Iddrisu

Ranking Member and Deputy Ranking Member, Lands and Forestry: Hon Rashid Pelpuo and Hon Alhasan Suhuyini