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21.03.2017 Editorial

Amewu and Asomah-Cheremeh must walk the talk

By Ghanaian Chronicle
Amewu and Asomah-Cheremeh must walk the talk
21.03.2017 LISTEN

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Peter Amewu, has declared war on illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, in the country.

According to Mr. Amewu, he is determined to fight the canker, because not only is it destroying water bodies in the country at a rapid rate, but also negatively impacting on the Ghanaian economy.

Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, has also indicated his determination to fight illegal chainsaw operations or lumbering, which has been going on in his region for a long time, to help curb the continuous depletion of forest reserves and the vegetation of the country.

Mr. Asomah-Cheremeh warned that the days of indiscriminate illegal chainsaw operations would soon be over, pointing out that a special taskforce would be setup to assist the Forestry Commission in its fight against the menace.

The Chronicle couldn't agree more with these two ministers, mainly because the activities of galamsey and chainsaw operators have, and continue to impact negatively on water bodies in the country.

No wonder experts have cautioned that if the government fails to deal with the environmental degradation being caused by galamsey and chainsaw operators, Ghana would soon start importing water.

Indeed, not only do the activities of these galamsey operators destroy our water bodies, but also have devastated our farmlands, thus rendering our lands useless.

Civil society groups and some concerned individuals have expressed profound regret at the rate at which galamsey and chainsaw operators are destroying our sources of food and water, with some pointing accusing fingers at some chiefs, Members of Parliament (MPs), and other high ranking politicians, as being behind these illegal operators.

The Chronicle is tempted to believe the accusations directed at some of our chiefs, MPs and other high ranking politicians.

Our argument is premised on the fact that a couple of years ago, former President John Dramani Mahama set up a taskforce to put a brake on the alarming rate at which galamsey was destroying our environment.

Unfortunately, however, nothing concrete has, so far, come out of the work of the taskforce, and instead, galamsey is still thriving like nobody's business, thus exposing our environment to greater danger.

Perhaps the methods used in the past to bring the situation under control have proved futile, this is why The Chronicle is calling on the two ministers to try other measures to ensure that the situation is brought under control.

Since a greater majority of people engaged in galamsey and chainsaw operations are the youth, the government must do well to redirect the energies of these young and active men and women into other productive ventures, that would equally guarantee enough income for them to live meaningful lives.

One venture the paper wants to touch on is agriculture, which has the capacity to employ almost everybody engaged in these illegal activities, because a well-functioning agriculture industry can guarantee every nation food security, employment and income for individuals.

Regrettably, in Ghana, the authorities have, instead, looked on as galamsey and chainsaw operators with their foreign partners, especially the Chinese, enjoy a field day destroying our environment.

Farmers in this country do not receive any support from government, which puts them in a disadvantaged position, as the local small scale farmers have to compete with farmers in the advanced world, who are being heavily subsidised.

Perhaps, our small scale farmers throughout the country should pour onto the streets to register their displeasure over how they are being treated, because, for a long time, they have been taken for granted and neglected by successive governments.

This is why we call on the Nana Akufo-Addo-led government to invest heavily in the agricultural sector of the economy, to persuade our energetic youth to divert their attention to the sector.

The government must ensure that it brings into reality its promise of one village, one dam project, as well as mechanising the sector to make it easy to get more youth out of galamsey and chainsaw operations, and into the agric sector.

 

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