It looks very obvious that Ghana and Ghanaians are not taking the threat of galamsey seriously. Democracy or our its wrong interpretation is giving us the audacity to do whatever we feel like, all in the name of freedom.
Despite knowing the dangers galamsey poses to our environment, health and economy, some people are very determined, even if means going ahead to kill innocent military officers, to use it as a means of making money.
The president promised to lay down his office and fight this, until galamsey is completely uprooted from Ghana. But what do we see? Galamsey is more intense now, than when he started the operations to halt it. What is happening to the powers we invested in our president to protect our country and ourselves?
Galamsey has now become another form of corruption, which is practiced from the top to the bottom. We hear allegations of top government officials and party gurus, practising this trade. We hear of immigration officers allowing illegal immigrants into the country to do galamsey. We hear of chiefs and traditional leaders, practising galamsey. Recently, the Asantehene had to destool three chiefs who were deeply involved in this bad practice. May God continue to bless this king.
We hear of the youth in the galamsey-prone areas boldly daring government to attempt to stop them. They are now posting videos on social media, of how they have adapted new methods to do galamsey, including night operations.
This is how galamsey is deeply rooted in our country. I am sure that if we are to investigate thoroughly, we shall unearth, pastors, medical doctors, lawyers, judges and those who society respects, all very deeply involved in galamsey.
Further on, against the very laws of the land, we have allowed the Chinese, Indians, Arabs and other nationals to relocate deep into our forests and partake in galamsey, by supplying equipment, machinery and funds to the illegal miners. The Chinese have even taken over parts of the forest and guard the areas by shooting to kill, Ghanaians who trespass.
Galamseyis damaging our economy and environment.
With the economy, even though we are the largest producer of gold in Africa, we do not benefit from its exports. Firstly, the NDC made sure all of Ghana’s 55% shares in Ashanti Gold were sold out, so we only collect rent from AngloGold Ashanti. We have no say, as to how shares in the profits from gold trade should be distributed.
And secondly, the Chinese and other non-Ghanaian nationals who sponsor galamsey operators, pay pittance for the gold to the illegal gold miners, and they smuggle the commodity out of the country. By this, they avoid payment of export taxes and duties. The gold is put onboard their fishing vessels on the high seas, most probably with the help of some Ghanaians working at the port, and shipped to China.
Now, here is where Ghana loses big time. Assuming $3 billion worth of gold is smuggled to China, annually, this will not be documented, and we can never claim that money. And assuming Ghana goes for a Chinese loan of $3 billion, this will be documented.
The Chinese will use the money made from the sale of our gold, which they never paid for and loan it to us, which we will be obligated to repay, plus interest. This practice is worse than the French Colonial Tax on Francophone countries. What a shame. We seriously need to address this and fast.
With the environment, we are heading towards the El Salvador situationwhen90% of all itsnatural water bodies were polluted with toxic chemicals used in mining(Ref:https://www.reuters.com/article/world/water-takes-gold-as-el-salvador-bans-metal-mining-idUSKBN17628V/).
Metal mining was absolutely banned in 2017 in El Salvador, following a campaign by the Catholic Church, activists and community members.
Should this situation arrive in Ghana, we will have to import portable water, which will become more expensive than gold, for drinking, washing and industrial uses. We will also have to import the staple food we grow here, since the soil will beinebriated with toxic chemicals.
The Ghana Water Company (GWC) has repeatedly warned against galamsey and has recently come out to say that certain areas are going to be seriously affected with reduction in water supply. The truth is, the water is there alright, however the pollutants in it cannot be removed during the processing of potable water in the stations. The GWC will not want to supply poisonous water to the consumer, so the best thing to do is to shut down.Is the need to import water, coming soon?
Recently, Most Rev. Bonaventure Kwoffie of the Accra Catholic Archdiocese came out to speak against galamsey. I only hope his words which were directly from the Holy Spirit, had reached the ears of all Ghanaians and are embraced as the Word of God. Let all of Ghana heed to the archbishop’s call.
In 2022, Most Rev. Gabriel Mante of the Jasikan Catholic Diocese, spoke against mining of iron in the Oti region and called upon the traditional leaders in the Volta and Oti regions to stop government from mining the iron ore found there. Some people took him on, which was rather unfortunate, because a warning from a Catholic bishop should never be taken lightly.
The current head of the Holy Catholic Church, Pope Francis, in his Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home, came out to warn us of the need to take good care of the environment because this is our common home which we share with other living creatures. Anything other than that could bring serious repercussions. He was ridiculed, but popes’ messages must be taken seriously, as history recounts.
In his Humanae Vitae, St. Pope Paul VI on July 25, 1968 went against general consensus of the College of Bishops that the faithful can use contraception. He gave four main reasons of what could happen when contraception was promoted. They are, Infidelity and Moral Decline; Lost of Respect for Women, where they will become mere instruments of selfish enjoyment; Abuse of Power, where acceptance of contraception would place a dangerous weapon in the hands of those in authority and Unlimited Dominion, where man will have unlimited dominion over his own body.
The fears of Pope Paul IV were ridiculed by the world but barely twenty years later, his words became words of prophecy. Among others, there was surge in unplanned pregnancies even where contraception was used, and surge insexually transmitted diseases.And lately LGBTQ+, a condition where humans feel they have sole control over their bodies has descended upon the world.
Our bishops have spoken again, and we must heed to their message and save this country. For this, I plead with all Catholics to stay away from galamsey and do all things legally possible to help halt this practice, for our bishops’ words come from the Holy Spirit.
My suggestion to how to resolve the problem, may not sound pleasant. But wait, sometimes when God wants to put an end to man’s misconducts, He sends down very drastic and unpalatable measures. The Floods, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah should come to mind.
The president should use his position as the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and command all our troops, land, air and sea, into all galamsey areas and arrest everybody suspected to be in the galamsey business, detain them and make them work on the land until they reclaim it and until the waters are clear and good for consumption.
Every machinery and equipment used for galamsey should be confiscated to the state and sold, not destroyed. All gold and other minerals found should be confiscated and to encourage our troops to do a good job, the minerals may be split into two parts, one for the troops and one for the state. The troops will be mandated to sell their gold to the state as one of the conditions.
All aliens caught, should not be granted any immunity but together with the arrested locals, be they politicians, government officials, public and civil servants, traditional leaders or ordinary Ghanaians, should be made to face long jail sentences and forced to work to reclaim the land and waters.
Trials should take place in-camera so that no ambassador or high commissioner will exert pressure on the state to release their nationals.
Ghana used to be the leading cocoa producer in the world but for mismanagements we lost that position to La Cote d’Ivoire, and became second.
In a matter of a few years,with the declining quantity in cocoa production due to galamsey’s destruction of our cocoa farms, Ghana will become the sixth largest cocoa producer in the world. This year, our production will drastically drop.
We are all involved in this, either we do galamsey and must stop or we do not and must make those doing it to stop. Instead, we are just looking on, blaming everybody but our individual selves. When the full harmful effects of this evil practice start manifesting, we shall still have the blame game going on, those in the depleted areas will blame leadership for not halting this practice and leadership will in turn blame the people for allowing galamsey to take place in their communities.
Meanwhile, Ghana may not have enough money to tackle the situation, because we can no longer sell our cocoa and other cash crops to the outside world, due to their contamination by toxic chemicals.
Galamsey is destroying our environment and food production. It is destroying our portable water supply;it is affecting the production of our cash crops and we are losing revenue from the unaccounted for,illegal gold exports. In the end this country will become poorer without much export earnings. We must wake up!
Hon. Daniel Dugan
