After assuming the presidency on January 7, 2017, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo launched Operation Vanguard on July 31, 2017 to stop the activities of galamseyers in the country.
The focus was on the Ashanti, Eastern and Western (now divided) regions as they fall within the High Forest Zone and have the highest concentration of forests and water bodies as well as mineral resources that attract the illegal miners.
The galamseyers defied the work of the joint military-police task force such that in April last year President Akufo-Addo had to authorise the Ghana Armed Forces to deploy 200 more soldiers to go after all persons involved in galamsey, including those in the Central Region.
The illegal miners persist in their recalcitrance and so today, the government has procured five new patrol boats to be used by the security services to patrol and protect the country’s rivers as part of measures to stem their devastating activities.
The government has announced its adoption of a two-pronged approach to dealing with galamsey, namely law enforcement and reformation of the sector.
The Ghanaian Times hails all the efforts of the government in the mining sector, particularly its current approach of law enforcement and reformation.
Without even getting the details of the reformation programme, one can conjecture that it is meant to streamline things and create opportunities for regulated mining.
However, the reformation efforts could be derailed if law enforcement fails.
Therefore, the Ghanaian Times wishes to appeal to the government to be more serious with the law enforcement because of the devastation of the country’s land, forests and rivers.
There is no doubt that galamseyers are into their activities to make some money to survive, but if they are not checked, they would end up destroying the country’s land, vegetation and rivers, three important vanguards of human survival.
The result of that destruction will be the suffering or death of both the nation wrecker galamseyers and innocent others.
What is worrying is that there are foreigners like the Chinese
involved in the galamsey devastation and these would run to their homelands when they are done with destroying ours.
Once the government has made its intentions clear about ensuring sanity in the mining sector, it should not allow anyone, groups or anything to distract its efforts.
It should remain focused, resolute and determined to bring into fruition those intentions.
The government needs the support of all the country to fight galamsey, considering the fact that the illegal activity brings an avoidable socio-economic burden on the state just as it undermines the survival of the society.
It is, however, unfortunate that some personalities who should know better have decided to ignore the ills of galamsey by going round speaking against the war on the illegal activity.
The public must see these personalities as nation wreckers and treat them with the contempt they deserve.
Let us all join the fight against galamsey and support the reformation efforts in the mining sector.
That support would help preserve the country’s land, vegetation and river resources for our survival so we can bequeath a safe and healthy nation to generations to come after us.
