Fight Against ‘Galamsey’ Must Go On, Despite Bawumia’s Visit To China

Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is expected to leave the shores of this country today for a five-day working visit to the Republic of China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Li Yuanchao.

According to an official statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Dr. Bawumia will hold talks with Mr. Li Yuanchao.

Our Vice President will also hold discussions with Mr. Yu Zhengsheng, Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which is a political advisory body in China .

Since the news broke out on Sunday, many Ghanaians have expressed mixed feelings.

While some claim that the visit will enhance the relationship between the two countries, others are of the opinion that the Chinese could use it to attempt to water down the resolve of the Ghana government to carry on with the fight against 'galamsey' (illegal mining).

The Chronicle, however, believes that this visit should, in no way, jeopardise the government's tenacity to win the fight against galamsey, which has already given the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led administration some political leverage.

Normally, since Ghana is one of the very first countries south of the Sahara to have established diplomatic relations with China, one would expect that the visit would improve the ties between the two countries.

Nonetheless, the paper is worried over the perception of a section of Ghanaians who belong to the school of thought that the Chinese Vice President may attempt to talk the government, through Dr. Bawumia, to relax its steadfastness to stop galamsey.

This is against the backdrop that when the government initiated moves to wage war against galamsey, the Chinese mission in Ghana expressed anger over the manner in which the Ghanaian media was dealing with the issue, and criticised it for targeting Chinese nationals in its reportage.

Even though other nationals are involved in the activities of galamsey, the Chinese, according to available statistics, are in the majority.

It is on record that in the last decade, thousands of Chinese illegal immigrants have been deported from Ghana, mainly because of their involvement in galamsey activities.

The mission, in a letter addressed to Mr. John Peter Amewu, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, pointed out that if nothing changes in the nature of campaigns against illegal mining in the country, bilateral relations between Ghana and China would be affected.

“The Chinese side is very concerned about this unhealthy tendency. We hope that the Ghanaian government will pay due attention to this situation, take the necessary action to stop such things from happening again, and guide the media to give an objective coverage on the illegal mining issue, so as to create a good environment for further development of our bilateral exchanges and cooperation,” the mission said.

Soon after the development, the authorities in China started subjecting Ghanaian businessmen and women, who travel to the country to do business, to severe maltreatment, which attracted media headlines in Ghana.

The Chronicle does not believe that Dr. Bawumia's visit to China has anything to do with the country's quest to water down the intensity of Ghana's anti-galamsey campaign to give the Chinese illegal miners more room to operate.

If anything at all, it should afford the two countries the opportunity to discuss ways and means to carry out the campaign in the best interests of both countries, and not to be skewed towards giving the Chinese leeway to continue operating galamsey in the country.

In the opinion of The Chronicle, Dr. Bawumia must impress upon the Chinese, through their Vice President, that just as they (Chinese) obey and respect their laws, we, in Ghana, have our own set of laws, and they must be obeyed.

The Chinese must also be made to know that they cannot come to Ghana, engage in galamsey and destroy our beautiful water bodies, lands and forests, with the sole aim of making money at our expense.

We need to preserve our water bodies to avoid the importation of water in the future.