By Joyce Gyekye
At the nation’s blindside at the peak of the election 2024 campaign, illegal mining, known as “Galamsey” increased.
Civil society organisations on environment and opinion leaders in Eastern, Bono, Ahafo and Eastern regions say the illegality has worsened with a new government in power. This came to light at a workshop organised by Taylor Crabbe and partners, Client Earth and AROCHA Ghana, in Accra.
In an interview with GBC, a representative of WACAM, a civil society organisation on environment in Fanteakwa South Constituency of the Eastern region, Johnson Appiah Asare said activities of illegal miners reduced a little bit after the public outcry following the shutdown of the Sekyere Hemang Water Treatment plant in the Central region. He said the activities got worse a month before the elections.
“People involved in the illegality were of the view that they have to mine all they can before the new government is elected, whether the NPP retains power or a new government, which is the NDC,” he noted. Mr. Asare explained that the situation has gotten even worse since the NDC won the elections.
He cited Osino in the Atiwa East constituency in the Eastern region, where the River Akusu, which used to be a protected area, is being mined.
“For the Birim River, everyone knows it’s completely gone, likewise the River Akrasu in Hemang.”
On the question of what the communities are doing to compel the illegal miners to stop their activities since it’s affecting their sources of drinking water and farms, Mr. Asare said, “They are helpless. My life was at a point threatened.”
An opinion leader at Kwabeng in the Atiwa West Constituency, Pastor Collins Amoah corroborated an earlier assertion by Johnson Asare that the illegalities are increasing with impunity. He stated that the change in government has come with a change regarding those leading the Galamsey activities. Pastor Amoah attributed the extreme heat, high cost of living, and increasing social vices, including teenage pregnancy, to the Galamsey activities.
AROCHA Ghana is calling on the government to address the galamsey menace decisively by issuing a Cease and Desist Order immediately.
The Deputy National Coordinator of the organisation, Daryl Bosu, said the silence by the governing NDC is worrying as it signed the pact like the other political parties, committing to address the menace. He called for revocation of L.I. 2462, which allows mining in forest reserves.
Participants were taken through the legal framework of the minerals and mining sector of the country, institutional framework and benefit-sharing arrangements from mining operations among stakeholders.
Former President Akufo-Addo ordered for L.I. 2462 to be sent to Parliament for its revocation. But parliament could not sit for the 21 times required to review the L.I. before the end of the Eighth Parliamentary of the Fourth Republic.
The revocation of the L.I was among the demands of Ghana Coalition Against Galamsey, which includes labour groups, academia, faith-based organizations, youth groups and labour organizations.
