“The government must declare a state of emergency over our water bodies and get the
Military to clear everyone found on the water bodies (mining on the water bodies is
illegal)….Repeal L1 2462 immediately…” – PRESS STATEMENT BY GHANA BAR
ASSOCIATION: KNUST 11/09/14
GOLD COAST – that was the name the early colonizers gave this country of ours.
The Portuguese who arrived here early in 1491 with Don Diego D’Asambuja, and
subsequently the French, the British, the Dutch, the Swedes, the Brandenburghers (of
Prussia) were enchanted about the availability of immense wealth of gold.
It enchanted the colonizers seeing people wearing gold as an ornament, and they built
Castles along the coast and the littoral to facilitate their trade in the lucrative gold business.
The name Gold Coast is said to have been given by Arab geographer, A1 Fazari in
AD 773 in his book Al Masudi but whether it was originally meant for this country or not, is a matter for the ardent and investigative historians.
After many wars and struggles among the European colonizers, and after various negotiations, the British finally won a foothold on our land, from 1754 when Thomas
Melvil took office as Governor, representing the Queen of England, to Sir Charles
MacCarthy….to Sir Charles Noble Arden Clarke, to Sir Arku Korsah and Lord
Listowel as Governor-Generals.
The Europhobia of independence given by the Independence Act 1957 caught up with us, and we wanted to wipe off the “vestiges” of colonialism and imperialism save the
English language and social, political, legal norms of Britain. We got enamoured with the new name, Ghana. Nobody questioned the new name and its appropriateness; because, as we were made to believe, we had once lived in the Old Ghana Empire, Ghana, meaning the land of gold.
We did not question the nature of failure that led to the collapse of the Old Ghana Empire with its capital Koumbi Saleh and the rise of the Mali Empire. Its King, Mansa Musa, in his long and expensive pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 with 60,000 people and an immeasurable wealth of gold dissipated the abundant wealth of Mali.
(Mansa Musa is considered as the wealthiest man in history) and the gold bounty he carried diluted the value of gold by 25% and this impacted the Egyptian (Cairo) economy for more than 10 years. Gifts to people, construction of mosques at towns along the pilgrimage route, marrying off many wives made him broke, leading to borrowing on his return journey.
Gold is so abundant in Ghana that it is safe to say all our buildings are sitting on gold, and given the greed of ‘galamseyers’ all our buildings should be pulled down to make way for the diggers to scramble for the gold. We see nothing, but greed alluring the galamseyers and now the ‘elite galamaseyers’ to act with impunity.
We are equally blessed with rich land capable of sustaining agriculture – for cocoa, timber, food – and we have greedily abandoned this and are rather focusing on gold! And we do not seem to care how destructive our galamsey activities are – endangering our very existence and rather playing ‘chaskele’ with the insensitive people.
The President, who is the Commander-in- Chief of the Ghana Armed Force per Article
257 (1) is entrusted with all the country’s mineral wealth.
Article 257(6) states: “Every mineral in its natural state in, under or upon any land in
Ghana, rivers, streams, water courses throughout Ghana, the exclusive economic zone and any such area covered by the territorial sea or continental shelf is the property of the Republic of Ghana and shall be vested in the President on behalf of and in trust for the people of Ghana”.
Does the President need any prompting or goading from anybody before taking a decisive action? In an interview with “3 news”, Professor Kwaku Ansa Asare, a former Director of the Ghana School of Law has called on the President to “resign,” because the President himself had said: “I am prepared to put my presidency on the line……” Professor Asare who is not known to be anti-NPP says: “The President is getting away with impunity.” In May this year, the same Ansa Asare had alleged on Citi FM:…” As far as I am concerned, our President does not respect the constitution……
That is the problem. It is not the Constitution that is the problem. It is the Chief
Executive of the state which is the problem……” And the President is a lawyer!
In his first year in the first term, he made the pronouncement: “I am prepared to put my
Presidency on the line…” He did not say: “I have put my presidency on the line”. The catchword here is “prepared” the lawyers will tell you in interpretation… words that are
clear and an unambiguous require no interpretation (See R v HC ex-parte Zanetor
Rawlings). Unlike “double – speak” in George Orwell’s “1984”. It is just like: “Akonta
Mining is not doing anything illegal as we speak….” with emphasis on “as we speak”.
So before the President spoke, had Akonta mining done anything wrong?
Do we sit idle when our very existence/survival is threatened? Do we have to import water? Why should we denigrate Professor Frimpong-Boateng’s Report and the good old internationally acclaimed surgeon appears to be a pariah.
Some Ghanaians think the persons closest to the President (kitchen cabinet) will not tell him the truth; others will sing his praises for their personal gains or pittance …he will remain “Tintintininti” (stubborn) adamantine…and like Biblical Jeremiah in 580 BC, he will lament: “I’m aware that there’s a deliberate politically motivated effort to stigmatise my government, my family and myself as corrupt.
I suspect that this is payback for the damaging allegations of corruption levelled against members of the erstwhile Mahama administration, some of which have led to criminal convictions, while others are still being prosecuted in court…I leave it to the judgment of the Ghanaian public and people to decide whether it is preferable to be a Clearing Agent or Government official one…..” and some people cheered at KNUST Great Hall.
What is better to do: wait till after the 2024 election and write a second edition of
“Chasing the Elephant into the Bush” or point out the shortcomings and peccadilloes of the Executive, to correct themselves and help to break the 8”?
The running mate of NPP, Napoleon Opoku Prempeh on a political platform at Prestea-
Huni Valley says “We will give back the seized excavators…” Who has not heard Pat
Thomas’ song:” Sika ye mogya” Did we hear anybody say:” Napo, yere tu wo fo no, na wore posa wo biribi” (You scratch your ‘something’ when we are busy advising you)?
But is it different from the Mahama /NDC of releasing jailed galamseyers? Equalisation
on the prowl. Sad, so sad, the jinx of NPP- NDC! And Ngugi Wa Thiong’o (James
Ngugi ) would say: “Weep Not, child”.
