By: Nana Ama Gyapong
Ghana, a country richly endowed with minerals and water resources, is facing a severe threat to its water security due to the unchecked menace of illegal mining, known as galamsey. If left unchecked, Ghana may soon be forced to import water, a stark irony given its natural abundance. Despite successive governments pledging to address the issue, the problem persists, with each administration often shifting blame to their predecessors rather than finding effective solutions.
Dr. Akua Amoako, a member of the National Communications team for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), has emphasized that the galamsey issue is a national crisis, rather than a problem solely attributed to the NPP, as many people assume.
She made this statement during an appearance on GTV’s prime time show, hosted by Kafui Dey, in an effort to shift the narrative and encourage collective responsibility in addressing the issue.
According to her, “It is completely false for us to sit here and make it seem like the galamsey or mining issue is a problem that was created by the NPP but rather it is a national issue that will not be handled well if politicized”.
“We are in charge and we have already done a lot of work in this fight against galamsey by training over four thousand miners on how to mine for gold without destroying the environment and even set up a community mining scheme”.
Upon being questioned on why the ruling party cannot come up with solutions now, she said, “we have barely ninety days to elections and we need more time to implement these policies properly because we are setting up a development bank so that all these small small miners who cannot afford to do it properly are well resourced. No more prospecting so that people don’t take that license to destroy our water bodies and also doing away with mercury for good’’, she concluded.
