Following the agreement government reached with Organised Labour, which convinced the latter to call off its intended strike, some military personnel were sent to Eastern Region to help flush out illegal miners who were polluting the Birim River. As widely reported by the media, the soldiers executed their duties with precision, as they were able to burn and destroy various equipment the illegal miners were using for their alluvia mining activities.
The military personnel have since moved to other areas to sack illegal miners from our water bodies. But, regrettably, a few days after the soldiers had left the Eastern Region, there is a video in circulation indicating that the illegal miners have come back to the Birim River and doing brisk business.
On the basis of what has happened, one can do a trend analysis and conclude that the battle with illegal mining will never end in this country.Since these illegal miners know the terrain they are operating on very well, they will definitely be going back after the soldiers have left and thus bringing down the work the military personnel have done to zero.
It appears to us that the youth, who are engaged in these illegal activities that are threatening the lives of all Ghanaians, have not appreciated the harm they are causing the nation. Dear reader, as you are aware, almost all our major rivers have been polluted. We can mention Offin, Pra, Ankobrah, Tano, Birim, Ayensu and Densu – which have all been polluted by the illegal miners in the name of searching for gold.
Meanwhile, these are the rivers that serve as a source of drinking water for more than half of Ghana’s population. Whilst the people of Ashanti Region depend on the Offin River, those in Western and Central regions also depend on Tano, Prah and Ankobrah. Some of the residents in Accra also depend on the Densu and Birim rivers as their main source of drinking water.
It is upon the basis of this that we think those who have made up their minds to destroy these water bodies should be made to face the full rigours of their actions.
We, therefore, fully support the drastic measures, but with slight variation that have been proposed by the Member of Parliament for Bekwai, Mr Joseph Owusu, to deal with the water pollution canker.
Mr Osei Owusu, who is also the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament had, in his various radio interviews, suggested that the illegal miners polluting our water bodies should be shot on sight. “You deserve to be shot if you are caught mining on a water body. There were about 15 changfans with individuals on it at Dunkwa.
“Immediately the patrol team bus arrived to round them all up, they dived into the water. It is difficult to get a hold of them. The best thing to do is to shoot them. The others will be deterred,” MP Osei Owusu has been quoted as saying. Though the so called human rights group have kicked against his suggestion, The Chronicle believes that is the best way to go.
Our proposal, however, is that they should not be shot and killed – the military must rather target their legs and shoot to harm or immobilise them. The police, some years ago, adopted the strategy at Prestea in the Western region when some illegal miners were attacking the legally sanctioned mines in the area.
In one of their demonstrations, the illegal miners had wanted to attack staff working at the then Bogoso Gold Limited. After defying all warning shots, the police turned their guns on their (illegal miners) legs and shot them.
The severe injury they suffered forced them to back off from the harm they had wanted to cause. In our view, if the same strategy is adopted by the military, we can bet on our last pesewa that this nonsense on our water bodies will cease.
What these illegal miners are doing is an existential threat to us as a nation. We should, therefore, not pamper them anymore because wicked actions, in our opinion, must always be met with wicked actions.
We, however, admit that the military on their own cannot just get up to adopt some of these drastic measures. They definitely need the support of the government of the day and the general public.
This is the reason why we are calling on the general public to fully support the military should they come out with any draconian measures to fight these illegal miners.
The military cannot patrol all our water bodies 24 hours each passing day. The only way we can address the issue is to resort to the measures we have proposed.
