The Government of the New Patriotic (NPP) upon assumption of office declared a stringent fight against illegal mining in the country.
Against all the odds such as criticisms that the then flag bearer of the party had promised not to do anything to prevent people in this illegal industry, severe opposition from galamsey operators, as well as the rampant lambast from very influential personalities who are known to be benefiting directly or indirectly from the nonferrous activities, the President stick to his guns.
The government firmly held the bull by the horn and put in place pragmatic measures to stop what has become a cancer in the Ghanaian society.
The move was a bold one and has been lauded widely, because it is putting a halt to the rampant and unwarranted destruction of the nation’s ecology including nice and useful river bodies by few individuals.
![IT must be one of the most difficult – and exasperating – tasks in the world to be the President of a nation like Ghana. For you may travel all over4 the world, talking to the leaders of “the developed nations”, to try persuade them that the pandemic that is afflicting the world, Covid-19 (with its variants) is a truly global destroyer and thatnowhere is safe from it, until everywhere is safe. You may deploy your most eloquent language to point out that although, the scientists of the “developed countries” have managed to manufacture a vaccine that has been seen to work against the pandemic, the politicians of the “developed countries” are, contrary to undertakings they have made to the World Health Organisation (WHO) hoarding the vaccine in their countries. Reports suggest that whereas the governments of the “developed countries” are targeting 100 percent of their populace for vaccination, and getting closer to their objective every day, less than 10% of the populace of the developing countries have so far been vaccinated, as a result of a lack of vaccines. Is this fair? you ask. Air travel (you continue) has made international contacts extremely easy. And since the Covid-19 virus and its latest variant (Omicron) in particOman Ghana versus Covid-19 08 www.ghanaiantimes.com.gh GHANAIAN Times Features TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2021ular, are very transmissible. So it is in everyone's educated self-interest to see that all people on the planet are fully vaccinated. As a result of your Government's efforts, you hear that plenty of vaccines have arrived in your country and you are emboldened to announce that your Government will soon be able to vaccinate its entire adult population. Then, you get the shock of your life: an intelligence report tells you that some mischievous people are spreading the fake news that if a person allows himself or herself to be vaccinated, the “vaccine will make that person vote for your governing NPP whether he/she wants to do so or not!” WHAAAAT! How does one counter such fake news? If the Government say it is not true, the conspiracy theorists shoot back, “And are you so naïve as to expect them to admit that the vaccine will make you vote for the NPP?” Wow! Are people so wicked that despite the gains that the world has already made through vaccination (such as the elimination of small pox from the world and the near-extinction of polio and yellow fever) they try to dissuade others from taking advantage of anti-Covid vaccination? Especially since people who are clever enough to invent such fake news must know of the horrible pain that Covid-19 subjects people to, before it finally kills them? What makes the anti-Covid vaccination story doubly awful is that its seeds are sown on pre-fertilised ground. In the past, some wicked scientists in the developed countries have allowed themselves to be used by their [usually racist] governments to administer harmful vaccines and other medications to people, using the lie that such interventions can save them from certain disease. One of the most devastating such deceptions occurred in the United States in 1932. Below is the horrible story as told on the OFFICIAL website of the US CENTRES FOR DISEASE CONTROL [CDC]: https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm QUOTE: THE U.S. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE SYPHILIS STUDY AT TUSKEGEE In 1932, the USPHS, [US Public Health Service] working with the Tuskegee Institute, began a study to record the natural history of syphillis. It was originally called the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphillis in the Negro Male” (sic) [now referred to as the “USPHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee”]. The study initially involved 600 Black men — 399 with syphillis, 201 who did not have the disease. Participants’ informed consent was not collected. Researchers told the men they were being treated for “bad blood,” a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphillis, anaemia, and fatigue. In exchange for taking part in the study, the men received free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance (sic)! By 1943, penicillin was the treatment of choice for syphilis and becoming widely available, but the participants in the study were not offered treatment. In 1972, an Associated Press story about the study was published. As a result, the Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs appointed an Ad Hoc Advisory Panel to review the study. The advisory panel concluded that the study was “ethically unjustified”; that is, the “results [were] disproportionately meagre, compared with known risks to [the] human subjects involved.” In March 1973, the panel advised the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to instruct the USPHS to provide all necessary medical care for the survivors of the study. The Tuskegee Health Benefit Programme was established to provide these services and in 1975, participants’ wives, widows and children were added to the program. In 1995, the program was expanded to include health, as well as medical, benefits. The last study participant died in January 2004. The last widow receiving THBP benefits died in January 2009. ... I973, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the study participants and their families, resulting in a $10 million, out-of-court settlement in 1974. On May 16, 1997, President Bill Clinton issued a formal Presidential Apology [over the study.] UNQUOTE In Ghana, the fake news that the anti-Covid vaccine would make people “vote for the NPP” has already begun to cause disagreements in some households. A family known to me has had to dismiss its house-help because she obstinately refused to take the jab. To illustrate the way the way the political message contained in the fake news has been camouflaged, I offer a version of the last conversation between the head of the household and the house-help: BOSS: Hey, “A”, you are very lucky! Instead of you going around to look for the vaccinators, they are coming to our estate! HOUSE-HELP: They are coming here? B: Yes! H: But Boss, I told you that my brother took the jab and had to be admitted into hospital. B: It doesn't mean that you too will become ill if you get the jab. It affects different people in different ways. Look, as you know, I have had all my own jabs and I have never been ill – as you know! H: But Boss, if you have taken all your jabs, then you are PROTECTED, are you not? B: Yes, I am. H: In that case, even if I become infected because I have not taken the jab, I cannot transmit the disease to you and YOU will be all right? B: I can't say that! Because, as I have explained to you, the pandemic can affect different people in different ways. H: Then the jab is useless? B: Listen, I can't take any risks with such a dangerous disease. Either you take it or you leave, I am sorry. I cannot allow you to expose me and my family to the risk of catching Covid. As I reported earlier, the House-help chose to leave. Both her Boss and I are convinced that it wasn't mere logicthat made her decide not to take the jab. She was probably under the influence of a church/cult. Or political propaganda! • Omicron cases at Kotoka International Airport are amongst the unvaccinated](https://www.ghanaiantimes.com.gh/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GT-8.pdf-Adobe-Acrobat-Pro-DC-4-220x150.jpg)
Since the inception of this initiative, several interventions from the government, traditional authorities, churches, civil society organisations, the media among others have been put in place. These collaborative efforts to help curb the menace which has been with the country for years are seen to be yielding some positive results, at least in the area of water pollution.
Among the measures, the Government deployed a task force of over 400 security personnel across the length and breadth of the country especially within the three most affected regions of the country such as Eastern, Western and Ashanti to undertake security exercises to help achieve the aims of the government, that is to bring an end to the threat.
This special taskforce ‘Operation Vanguard’ has indeed worked hard to meet the dreams of the government but it has not been that smooth. It has been met with huge resistance from the communities especially those engaged in the menace.
This is primarily due to the basic fact that, this has been their main and perhaps their only source of livelihood.
The entire illegal mining communities therefore have collaborated in preventing the security agencies to effectively work to bring the practice to an end holistically.
The government and all well-meaning citizens of this land have helped through various interventions to encouraged the taskforce to fight these unscrupulous Ghanaians with all the zeal, enthusiasm, courage and fortitude and exhibit the highest degree of professionalism with a clear conscience.
As stated by the Minister for Interior, Mr. Ambrose Derry, at the launch of the taskforce, “We cannot fail in this operation, failure is not an option, we shall put an end to all forms of illegal mining activities”.
Relentlessly, the taskforce has made successful incursions into the territories of the illegal miners, areas where hitherto were no go areas. They are reported to have seized and, in some cases, destroyed several machines used by the illegal miners, while several arrests have also been made.
The destruction of the equipment used by the illegal miners by the taskforce has been met with vociferous objections with some citizens threatening court actions against the taskforce.
This is an interesting development as who could lead this illegal on slot against the legally instituted team. Besides it is on record that these equipment were engaged in illegal mining which from all indications blatantly flouts the laws of Ghana.
Would such people go forward and claim ownership of the equipment without being prosecuted for destroying the nation’s eco systems? Would they not face persecution, if they go forward to claim ownership of the equipment, for employing and encouraging others to poison our river bodies? If they dare come out would they not be prosecuted for aiding foreigners, in some cases, illegal migrants to destroy Ghana’s arable farmlands?
The good news is that not withstanding the odds, the taskforce has persevered and made some tangible inroads. The lasted media reports have it that a little over one thousand illegal miners have so far been arrested by the taskforce (Operation Vanguard)
The Public Relations Officer of the Taskforce, Squadron Leader Robison Omane-Agyei, one time was reported to have said that nearly 200 excavators had also been seized and another 196 immobilized at illegal mining sites, within the first half of the first year of its of its operations
82 small arms with 1,370 cartridges had been captured and 3,002 chang-fa machines (floating platforms) destroyed.
All these aside, today, there is some disappointment among the populace as the news of the seized excavators can not be found. Reports have it that over 500 of the heavy-duty earthmoving machines cannot be traced. The accusation is that, the very people mandated to help halt the menace, have turned around to use the same ‘illegal’ systems to also operate illegally within the same illegal fields.
“Last week, MyNewsGh.com gathered from
security agencies that illegal miners whose excavators were seized paid between
GHC50,000 and GHC55,000 into a private account of a journalist in order to take
back their equipment.
Peace FM’s Seth Mantey in his account to the
security agencies revealed, “I became the contact boy for the miners whose
excavators had been seized. The miners pay between GHC50,000 and GHC55,000 into
my account at NIB to influence the team for the seized excavators to be
released. I then inform the team about the payment of the monies into my
account, which I withdraw and give to Mr. Ofori Atta who then give some to Mr.
Ekow Ewudzie of the Inter-Ministerial Committee.”
The Ghana Police Service recently announced the arrest of six persons over missing excavators and other equipment seized by operatives of Operation Vanguard.
The six persons arrested so far are; Horace Ekow
Ewusi, Frederick Ewusi, Joel Asamoah, Adnan Haruna, Frank Gyan and John Arhin.
The suspended First Central Regional Vice-Chair
of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Horace Ekow Ewusi, is alleged to have a hand
in the missing excavators, and therefore is part of the six arrested to help
provide information to the police to uncover circumstances leading to the
disappearance of the 500 excavators in the country.
One would ask, how these heavy equipment disappeared. Excavators are simply not like mobile phones which could be put in one’s pocket. If they have been sold as speculated then it is really true that “onipa ho ye hu”. Man is indeed fearful.
I hope and pray that this must not be true. If it is then such individuals involve might have to a very large extent disappointed the President of the land who mandated them to work on his behalf.
All well meaning Ghanaians would buy into the suggestion by the Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr., O.B. Amoah that all who are found to have been involved in the disgraceful act must be named and shamed.
This is because such acts and others like the alleged bribery scandals within the rather laudable move by the President, who proclaimed to sacrifice his presidency for the ending of this act of galamsey would have meant nothing.
In the words of Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central constituency, Kennedy Agyapong “We have failed in terms of Galamsey fight. We have indeed failed and we must admit. I won’t lie and people who did not sacrifice for the party are the ones enjoying…they did not suffer. They have to stop all those people including the soldiers for ‘GalamStop’. They must be stopped from working”,
Who has to ask or force these individuals to resign? They have not only put the powers who repose confidence in them to shame, but have rather brought the entire exercise to futility. They must do the right and honorable thing, if it is true that they have done these or such have happened under their watch.
Nana Sifa Twum
