Kudos To Ambassador Andrew Barnes

The decision by the Australian government, through that country’s High Commissioner in Ghana, to assist the Akufo-Addo government fight the Galamsey menace that threatens to render most major and minor rivers in the country undrinkable must be lauded (See “Australian Govt Backs Ghana’s Anti-Galamsey Fight, Pledges Support” MyJoyOnline.com / Modernghana.com 4/14/17). We hope many more countries in the industrialized world, both West and East, will join the fight with both material and knowledge-based support to help restore the requisite balance to the country’s ecological system.

It is quite instructive and heartening to hear the Australian High Commissioner, Mr. Andrew Barnes, highlight the fact that the Galamsey epidemic transcends the mere degradation of our environment and water bodies, as well as other natural resources. It also has an economic downside which entails massive tax evasion, especially on the part of the foreigners engaged in this illegal mining activity in the country. What this means is that Galamsey is a predatory activity that saps the country’s resources without giving back much that is either economically or environmentally worthwhile. In the coming weeks and months, High Commissioner Barnes intends to have his office host workshops aimed at educating those Ghanaian citizens who are at the forefront of fighting off the Galamsey menace.

It was also quite elating to hear High Commissioner Barnes commend the efforts of Ghana’s Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. John Peter Amewu, to stem the steep tide of the Galamsey havoc. It is not an easy fight by any stretch of the imagination; which is why the groundswell decision by the country’s media community to join the fight must also be lauded. This kind of media support and goodwill is unprecedented in the country’s recent history. It also positively recalls the salutary culture of development journalism in the wake of Ghana’s independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s. it is also very exhilarating to learn that the judiciary has taken a positive in this fight, with Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood having reportedly designated some 14 courts of the land to exclusively handle cases related to illegal mining activities. It is a great testimony to the confidence that members and leaders of virtually every section of Ghanaian society has reposed in the young Akufo-Addo Administration. So far, the government appears to be living up to expectation.

Of course, the most effective way of fighting Galamsey entails massive job creation and job-training and the timely provision of entrepreneurial skills. Which, in effect, also implies the government’s ability to successfully execute its one district, one factory development policy agenda. It also eerily underscores the abject neglect of the erstwhile Mahama-led government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in tackling the fundamental problems of a modern underdeveloped economy like ours. It is also at once rather amusing and annoying to hear some operatives of the Mahama regime accusing the media of having either failed or flatly refused to collaborate with the former regime, when the problem was really about the scandalous demonstration of total lack of leadership on the part of the key operatives of the former regime.

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By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
English Department, SUNY-Nassau
Garden City, New York
April 16, 2017
E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net