GALAMSEY – A GOLD
CURSE ?
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| Photo Credit ; PDA Ghana |
To the extent that key stake holders who are supposed to lead in the fight against the canker are themselves said to be engaged in it.
It is really sad as society is gradually seeing this as something normal and most non – governmental organizations are giving up the stop galamsey fight. Ghana appears to be losing the fight against illegal mining, popularly referred to as ‘galamsey’.
A research by the International Growth Center has shown that Ghana is recognized today as the second largest gold producer in Africa. It is the undisputed mining hub of West Africa, and is dominated by two main gold mining sectors: the large scale mining sector (LSM) and small-scale or artisan small-scale mining (SSM/ASM). Within the small-scale gold mining sector is “galamsey”, a local term used in Ghana for illegal or
unregulated gold mining operations.
“Galamsey,” is derived from the English phrase “gather them and sell.”
According to the Save Atewa Forest project , these galamsey activities are well known to chiefs, assembly members and the police but they have remained reluctant to take any action even though the affected communities have lodged countless number of complains. A suspected massive gold deposit in the area has led many of the indigenes to venture into illegal small-scale mining operations.
RUNNING TO THE CURSE
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| Photo Credit ; Citifmonline.com |
Most young people, including children, are notable for engaging in such act with the idea of getting quick money. The women, mostly act as porters for the miners, the men are known to be the doing the digging while the children are also seen at the pit running errand.
Social Support Foundation puts it this way: “There are more slaves today than at any point in human history” – Ben Skinner, A Crime So Monstrous
They continue to say that slaves are people who are
forced by violence or by threat of violence to work for no remuneration whatsoever
and so is the case in the Ashanti region of Ghana where children are forced to
work in unsanitary and unsafe conditions in small scale, unlicensed gold mines
called galamsey for no pay (SSF identified 150 such children within the Ashanti
region). Their masters, the galamsey bosses, often are in debt themselves and
thus perpetuate this vicious cycle
THE EFFECT OF THIS CURSE
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| Photo Credit ; Citifmonline.com |
Over the past years, there has been reports about mining pits collapsing on illegal miners, resulting in the death of many, while injuring others.
Miners are exposed to mercury poisoning from their crude processing methods, but they ignore these effects as they are blinded by the get rich quick - syndrome.
Apart from the negative effects of the galamsey activities on their lives, it possess more negative effects on our natural resources, including land and water bodies in the country.
During a tour of the Atiwa forest reserve, Rocha Ghana disclosed that residents living close by expressed worry over the damage the galamsey operators had caused their environment, including the pollution of major rivers such as Birim, Densu and Ayensu which serve as sources of drinking water for the people.
The Tano River in the Brong Ahafo Region had dried up for the first time in 40 years, a development that has been blamed on illegal miners. The Ankobrah River in the Western Region and Brim River in the Eastern region have been muddied due to persistent mining in them.(myjoyonline.com)
Officials of the Ghana Water Company have cautioned that the country might import water from its neighbours by 2020 if something is not done about it. (myjoyonline.com)
Some of these once mighty rivers that refreshed people with cool and clean drinking water, have today been turned into smelly yellow ponds, full of algae with other rivers in these irreversible processes.
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| Photo Credit ; ghheadlines.com |
This does more harm to the river than we think .The chemicals wash back into the riverbeds, killing different species of fish and destroying the river’s lifespan.
A lot of these chemicals also sink into the soil, the underground water tables are also polluted which affects wells and aquifers in that area as well.
THE TOLL ON OUR FUTURE LEADERS
As cited by news Ghana in 2015, A report by Daily Guide on May 4, 2015 with the headline Pupils Abandon School for Galamsey? Made us see the toll galamsey has on children as it hinders them from enjoying their right to education.
It was revealed in the report that, many children of school going age have abandoned classrooms and are now into full scale illegal mining activities, with the mind-set of attracting some income for themselves.
The enrollment figures in most basic schools in these mining communities were observed to be sharply declining as pupils had placed their goals of achieving a formal education to a brighter education second to quick money now.
In a related development, some small scale miners at Bonsa, a farming community in the Tarkwa –Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region, are using their largesse to woo innocent primary schoolgirls into sexual relationships (illegalmininginghana.blogspot.com)
This has resulted in high teenage pregnancy in the area which has of lead to the increasing number of school dropout among the schoolgirls. Authorities at the Bonsa No 2 MA Primary say about three girls of the school are impregnated every academic year, causing them to drop out
WHY IT IS DIFFICULT TO TURN THINGS AROUND
‘Pressure from all corners’
The galamsey workers of these affected communities are
surprisingly indigenes of the community. But they claim they are unemployed and
this is their only source of livelihood and that the water bodies will be
restored to their original states later. Convincing them usually falls on deaf
ears amidst government treats and other campaigns.
Mr. Amewu had earlier met with the Chinese ambassador to Ghana to ‘literally plead’ with her (the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Sun Baohong) to talk her people ( the Chinese) out of their illegal and destructive mining activities in Ghana.
President Nana Akuffo addo has also joined the fight to stop these galemsy activities. I am really motivated with the kind of enthusiasm and use of the cohesive power of the State,. We are just hoping to see him implement it as said.
A tour in the Ashanti Region saw the president emphasizing on the fact that the government has policies in the pipelines which is going to be with the objective of dealing with the canker once and for all.
But will this really work out with so much pressure everywhere as successive governments have tried but gave up the fight so soon?
For instance, from NewsGhana, President Mahama, visited the gold-rich Kibi area in January 2014, and promised to use “brutal force” through the Task Force to stop such activities. Those engaged in the practice, he claimed, were “only doing it to earn a living’. With this kind of conclusion that the people were making a living through galamsey operations, nothing was done to stop them.
Edem Srem discovered that back in 2010, the traditional ruler of the district, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, had himself vowed to clamp down on illegal mining there. But there is little to show for it.(Newsafricamagazine.com)
Srem also discovered that in May 2013, another of Ghana’s influential traditional rulers, Otumfuo Osei Tutu of the gold-rich Asante Kingdom, similarly promised to lead a fight against galamsey.
That same year, as Srem tells it that the government of Ghana got on board, with the president setting up the anti-galamsey Task Force.( Newsafricamagazine.com). But what do we see today? The situation has rather worsen.
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| Photo Credit ; mordernghana.com |
Srem’s team shot footage showing that “all of these promises” had been just a show off. Galamsey operations were rather on the rise. Their investigation took six months to complete in the Kibi traditional area. It was discovered that the King’s promises had never materialized as galamsey had increased.
The Birem River, which serves Kibi Township and its environs, had become so heavily polluted that it was difficult for even the Ghana Water Company to draw water from it to its water treatment plant. .( Newsafricamagazine.com).
“In the Asante Kingdom, the Offin River had suffered a similar fate.
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| Bronxy One |
He gave his name as Bronxy One (Bronxy Baako P3). In the video , Broxy daringly shows an excavator and the pit he owned , which had dozens of illegal miners operating at the time as he warns the government not to make an attempt in stopping his operations.
A former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, has also shard the Chinese officials in Ghana put on him when he tried to fight against illegal mining according to citifmonline. Alhaji Fuseini revealved on the Big Issue that when he started his campaign against illegal mining, which was to also involve the deportation of Chinese nationals involved in the canker, he received “a lot of pressure from all corners.”
After being lured several times by the Chinese Ambassador , Mr. Alhaji Fuseini was later offered a scholarship of which he refused. How many people have really being able to stand this test of time ?
Citi FM has also launched a campaign against galamsey in the
country.
Dubbed
#StopGalamseyNow, the campaign makes five clear demands of government to clamp
down on the menace which is destroying the county’s land and water resources,
and may see Ghana resorting to the importation of clean water in the next two
decades. ( cityfmonline.com )
The
demands include:
- The total cessation of all small and medium scale mining for a period of six months
- The cessation of the issuance of new mining licences for a year
- The reclassification of mining categories to reflect the use of new/larger equipment
- The allowance of water bodies to regenerate their natural ecology
- Tree planting and a land reclamation project
Since offenders of these illegal mining activities are mostly released allegedly at the long run after being arrested with directives from ‘above’. And they continue with their gather and sell business.
But the real question here is who will bell the cat ?
Sources of this article include :
www.newsghana.com.gh
citifmonline.com/2017
www.graphic.com.gh
http://www.ssfghana.org/galamsey-mining-case-study
http://www.myjoyonline.com/politics/2017/April
http://newafricanmagazine.com/ghana-murky-world-galamsey/
http://www.saveatiwa.com.gh/
http://www.theigc.org/project/the-footprints-of-galamsey-in-ghana/
http://illegalmininginghana.blogspot.com/
www.modernghana.com/news/363250
http://www.ghanaweb.com/
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