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Raping The El Dorado

By Daily Guide
Editorial Raping The El Dorado
MAY 26, 2017 LISTEN

One of the galamsey sites visited by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources

We knew that the war against galamsey when we started waging it, was not going to be easy, given its complexity and deep-rootedness. Emerging developments have proven more than ever before that the raping of our environment was moving at a more cruising speed than we thought.

Had the current national action against it not been initiated, we would have ended up losing most of our rainforest cover and water bodies to foreigners whose objective of descending on our country is to rape our environment.

A few days ago we had a chance of listening to the Lands and Natural Resources Minister when he appeared at a galamsey site in the hinterland. He was interviewing two Chinese illegal miners. One of them said he was barely three months old in the country and that suggested how the country is still attractive to these gold prospectors.

In his scratchy English, he managed to make a point that they come and go obviously at will. The suggestion here is that we are in for a long haul, the fortune seekers knowing full well that it is not an easy prospection but with perseverance – which they are ready to put up – they erroneously think they would always triumph. Times have changed; they do appreciate the reality.

We are not ready as a country to allow them to destroy our environment. This is our land and we must do all we can to protect it.

We have noticed that an Ukrainian illegal miner was arrested in the hinterland – another suggestion about the seriousness of the business. He must have been engaged in the galamsey business for a while now. Illegal mining is therefore a multi-national activity by no means limited to the Chinese. Indeed, it goes beyond the Mongoloids.

If they are intent on going ahead with their occupation, we too should not rest on oars. In this war we think that the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has a critical role to play. As the state sentinels at our frontiers and airports and seaports, they owe it a duty to keep us safe from undesirable elements. For every illegal Chinese and other nationals arrested for the illegality, the GIS suffers a minus in its pubic rating. The security organization should up its game so such elements do not gain easy entry into the country when their mission does not inure to our national interest.

The miscreants in the colours who have lately been observed to be undertaking illegal protection at galamsey sites should be reported to the military high command for the appropriate sanctions to be taken against these men.

Although we have had the Ghana Armed Forces Public Relations Directorate deny the high command's acquiescence to the presence of soldiers at some sites, we would demand that an investigation into the anomaly be conducted without delay.

We need something beyond a mere denial – the standard PR approach to such allegations. A report from such an investigation would be convincing enough, especially when every step of it is put out on the public space.

That the sector minister set eyes on some of these men in OGs makes the demand for a full blown probe even more appropriate and desirable.

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