Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako says he is losing faith in the nation because of successive governments’ failure to stop illegal mining popularly called, ‘galamsey’. He said he is at the end of his tether as a Ghanaian citizen observing “what leadership President Nana Akufo-Addo and his administration could bring to bear” in stopping ‘galamsey’.
“At least all governments have tried but I have come to realise that all government personnel and security forces are involved,” he said.
In what he describes as a “disaster unmitigated with obvious evidence,” he bemoaned what has hindered the different political administrations in dealing with the issue.
Commenting on the issue on Joy FM/MultiTV’s news analysis programme Newsfile Saturday, Mr Baako, said the nation has sunk in a quicksand of galamsey because of the involvement of some political actors.
“That is what makes me very sad and almost about to give up because it is a no hope situation. It is dire,” he added.
The veteran journalist narrated how under the erstwhile Mahama administration, in the Western region, some constituency and regional executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were involved in certain illegal mining activities thereby creating a lot of problems.
According to him, there is video and audio as well as other documentary evidence some of which are with the police but nothing has been done.
“Sadly, immediately the NDC lost the elections, some executive members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) also moved in to sack the NDC people and take charge of the forest reserve with impunity,” he disclosed.
Mr Baako said he is disheartened that even when the names of some political actors and security capos were handed to former president Mahama, the state institutions failed to act primarily because the beneficiaries are politically connected.
Officials of the Ghana Water Company have warned that the country risks importing water for consumption unless illegal mining activities stop.
According to the Accra West Regional Director of the Ghana Water Company, Ing Peter Deveer, galamsey has badly polluted water bodies in the country resulting in an excessive increase in the cost of water treatment. Mr. Deveer was speaking on the sidelines of a community dialogue programme at Chorkor in Accra to celebrate World Water Day.
“Today, there are over 663 million people worldwide living without safe water supply close to home, spending countless hours queuing or trekking to distant sources and coping with the health implications of using contaminated water,” he said.
Citing a report on the spate of water pollution in the country, Ing Deveer told Joy News, “the rate at which things are going we could be importing water in the next ten to 20 years.”
Meanwhile, researchers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have said Ghana has no problem with water sources, however, potable water sources are diminishing at such a fast rate that the country faces a looming water crisis by the year 2030 if the current conditions continue to persist.
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