Unprecedented; Serene; Placid Tranquil, Unruffled; The Catholics’ “protest walk” on Friday, 11/10/24. The words used could not be “braggadocio” (arrogant and empty boast), but they give a good picture of the “walk” by the Catholic Diocese of Accra.
Septuagenarians and octogenarians may not have experienced such an episode in our lives and the straddlers had our spirits with the “protest walkers”.
It was enchanting to see the mass servers led by the “crucifer” carrying the processional cross and leading the walkers, with the Reverend Fathers in toe, after the banner “Environmental Prayer Walk Against Galamsey”.
The crowd which included ‘Crusaders Against Corruption’ ‘Green Faith Ghana’ looked like those we see at Easter and other similar festivities: The Paschal Triduum, and the Gloria in excelsis Deo… Ave Maria…ora pro nobis peccatoribus (Holy Mary… pray for us sinners…) Paternoster qui es in caelis. (Our Father who art in Heaven…) “Credo in unum Deum” (I believe in one God…)
The placards gave powerful messages: “Protect our future”, “Our home is on fire”; “The globe is warming up”, “There is no planet B “Choose eco, not ego”.
The Petition received by Adumoa Bossman was summed up as follows: 1. Declaration of a state of emergency in areas heavily affected by galamsey 2. Immediate moratorium on the issuance of mining licenses 3. Repeal of Legislative Instrument (L. I. 2462) which governs the issuance of mining licenses, particularly in environmentally sensitive areas.
The prayer walk lasted about four hours, starting from the Holy Spirit Cathedral (Adabraka) at 10:00 am and ending at Christ the King Parish, close to the Jubilee House. Kyrie, eleison (Lord, Have mercy). Alleluia, Amen.
A touching moment was when Most Rev. Asare reiterated that “all the communiqués issued by the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC) had fallen on deaf ears”. In a brilliant article in the Chronicle on Thursday, October 10, 2024, Hon. Daniel Dugan recalls: “The Holy Catholic Church has been very concerned about the devastation of our environment world – wide, and on June 18, 2015, Pope Francis came out with “Laudato Si” sub-titled “On Care for our Common Home”.
In this encyclical, the Pope highlighted: “The Cry of Earth, the Cry of the Poor, Ecological Education and Ecological Spirituality… We share the earth with others and we must be seen to do the right thing so as not to destroy what nature has for us…”.
Hon. Daniel Dugan recalled the various instances at which the GCBC had drawn the attention of governments of Ghana to the menace of Galamsey: 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Most Rev. Asare gave the rationale of the walk: “As Christians we feel compelled to do something beyond the many statements that have been issued regarding this disaster; hence our environmental prayer walk to beseech God for His help and also to pray for those in public offices who are vested with power to direct our collective resolve”.
The man of God attributed “corruption, complicity of some politicians, chiefs, some influential private citizens and foreigners, and the apparent lack of political will over the years by governments” to have further exacerbated the problem of illegal mining.
We are tempted to go back to the “Agyapadie Book” and we read page 9 (1.4.3) Mining, Oil and Gas Industries: “Our mining, as well as oil & gas strategies constitute a major plank of the blueprint for controlling the extraction of natural resources which God has generously bestowed on Ghana particularly Akyem land… a cursory look at the approved concessions should be looked at (?) Asante Bediatuo is to lead the process to take over these concessions detailed below and consolidate them into the extended Agyapa LLC, incorporated in Jersey…” A list of 332 mining companies is made, and it is stated: “
The passage of the Mineral Income Investment Fund Act and the setting up of the first Special Purpose Vehicle (Agyapa Royalties) in Jersey, would allow us, acting in various capacities and through our friends, to acquire majority of the stake to be listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Ghana Stock Exchange…” Question the authorship of the “Agyapadie Book”?
You may give the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, the benefit of the doubt when he bellows a disclaimer, attributing the authorship to “opposition’s assigns”. Remember the suit by D.M. Ofori Atta against Hopeson Adorye for a gargantuan sum of GH¢10 million, and keep taciturn because you may not have that amount to face a court action against someone who is mentioned in the book as the leader of the “the technical team”:
Like Diana, England’s Rose, you may not go “quietly” without recalling Rambler’s song: “Won a adepaba a, wokye di no, eka ba a, won aranawokyetua” (loosely translated: ‘Those who benefit from a windfall alone, bear the cost of the failure of a venture). OR “Wonko wodidi a, wonko wo ko” (when you eat alone, you fight alone).
How think we? Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679) was the first modern philosopher to articulate the theory of social contract – a mutual contract. In the Leviathan (1660) he stated that in a state of nature life without a government would be nasty, poor, solitary, brutish and short, resulting from violent competition for resources. John Locke elaborated this in his Second Treatise on Civil Government in 1689, noting: “The state of Nature has a law of Nature to guide it”.
In “The Spirit of the Laws” (1748), Charles Louis de Second at de Montesquieu divided French society into three classes (“triaspolitica”): the executive, the legislature, the judiciary – the separation of powers – adopted by many Constitutions the world over.
A second edition of “Chasing the Elephant into the Bush”, a la Dr. Arthur Kennedy? No, wait.
So, it should be borne in mind that in a democracy we go to elections to choose a team of people to lead us: hence, the prayer of Akufo-Addo in soliciting our votes after two failed attempts: “Mo nso me nhwe” (Try me and see). He was “begging” for our votes. Now, in power, it is “yenntieobiaa” and he would go to a function and order chiefs to “stand up” for him! He would surround himself with “family and friends”, give government jobs to them for almost 8 years, and would hear nothing like “Cabinet Reshuffle” – those asking for it being told off for being jealous…
So, in Akufo-Addo’s government we have Catholics in a walk to pressurize government to take action on an existential threat– a phenomenon that has the potential to destroy our future. We have “fought” dictators before, so we cannot countenance any traits that have the tendency to veer towards dictatorship. Our fathers fought Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s dictatorship (one-party state, Nsawam Prison); we, including Akufo-Addo, fought Rawlings’s dictatorship and we pray God to “… help us to resist oppressor’s rule…”
The Catholics have given the lead, and the editorial of “The Catholic Standard of Sunday, October 13 – Saturday October 19, 2024 sums it up: “Political polarization makes it extremely difficult for anybody to voice out conscientious opposition against irresponsible mining of all forms, including ‘galamsey’… There is nothing partisan about the call to “End Galamsey Now”.
The fight against ‘galamsey’ is apolitical…” Per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso, esttibi Deo patriomnipotenti in unitate Spiritus Sancti, omnishonor et gloria per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.
