'Galamsey': Trading life for a quid

Water is life because the human body consists of about 70% water. It must, however, be known that not any water is life. It is only clean and safe water that can give life. Polluted water does the opposite. Polluted water is not just water that looks physically dirty. It is also water that may contain strong chemicals such as arsenic, mercury, lead, DDT, cyanide and other chemicals substances that cannot be seen with the naked eye.


Illegal miners use some of these chemicals in their activities without proper regulations. These minerals eventually get washed into and pollute water bodies.
Some (if not all) of these overzealous money scavengers lack knowledge of the dangers associated with these chemicals of the trade.

Illegal mining is popularly called 'galamsey' in Ghana. Image Courtesy: Citifmonline

We complain about the destruction of water bodies due to 'galamsey' activities. We blame Chinese nationals for coming to destroy our environment with heavy-duty equipment. We threaten to deport them but, after their government intervenes with a loan facility, we allow them to continue and pretend we are working on it.

My question is, where do the Chinese nationals pass to enter into our country with their heavy-duty machines? How did they get access to the land? How come, without any exploratory work, they are able to identify our mineral deposits right away?

If we are serious about fighting illegal mining, why did we make it acceptable for Ghanaians? Don't Ghanaian nationals use cyanide and mercury in mining? It is no wonder we are still struggling very hard to bring the 'galamsey' menace under control.

We have 'Special Forces' who only show up on independence day to partake in march pasts. I am wondering what we keep the so-called 'Special Forces' for while we have a threat to life at hand. Remember, water and life are inextricably linked. A threat to quality water is a threat to life. The 'galamsey' menace is more dangerous than terrorism. It has the potential of automatically shutting down everything.

So, congrats to the Akufo-Addo government for deciding to crack the whip on this menace which threatens our very existence. We hope the verve with which this anti-galamsey agenda was pursued would be sustained.