A media war has been waged on illegal mining popularly known as galamsey and its continuous devastating effects on our environment and water bodies in the country. The media’s commitment towards fighting galamsey was made public last Tuesday with the launch of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey.
THE coalition comprises Graphic Communications Group Limited (GGGL), the New Times Corporation, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) and the Community Radio Network with a blessing from the Christian Council of Ghana. From the above it is obvious that the Ghanaian media have come together with a compelling common purpose to ensure that galamsey is dealt with once and for all to save our country from a looming national environmental disaster.
AMONG the goals of the coalition, town hall meetings would be held in galamsey endemic areas with the aim of educating the people on dangers of galamsey and the urgent need to stop it now! It is good news that the media in Ghana have come together to lead this crusade to help stop the galamsey menace.
FROM the goodwill messages delivered by media owners at the launch on Tuesday, this time round, the media will leave no stone unturned as we all embark on this journey to kill and bury galamsey in this country. Collectively, they have agreed to name and shame all those who are behind this unethical destruction of our river bodies, farms and lands across the country.
THE media war is a worthy cause and as a signatory to the on-going signature campaign, Today affirms its full support to the work of the coalition. We also want to assure the coalition that we will give prominence to their activities both in our daily newspaper and our On-Line edition as part of our efforts towards ending this canker called galamsey.
AS a country, we have danced around galamsey for far too long. The consequences of our leaders not having the will power to end it are the debilitating effects on our environment and water bodies we see today.
LISTENING to the Head of Public Relations (PR)/Communications of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Stanley Martey, yesterday on Citi FM in Accra, he indicated that many of our water bodies which are treated to provide our urban centres with potable water have all become polluted.
ALTHOUGH, Mr. Martey admitted that not all of them were affected by galamsey, he made it clear that galamsey had polluted many of them (our water bodies) which treatment, he went on to stress, has become very expensive. We have also been warned that we risk importing water into this country in the next 20 years if galamsey is not halted.
PERHAPS we are forgetting that we may also be hit by food shortages. This is in the wake of the fact that many farms are being destroyed by these illegal miners. The most irritating aspect of this galamsey menace is that the perpetrators do it with impunity without fear of the law.
IT is against this backdrop that Today is excited at the news that the media will proactively play a part in ensuring that we bring an end to this evil practice. Many are those who have described galamsey as evil and wicked. It is important that we all do our bid in whatever way we can to uproot and bring this wickedness to an end. May it not be said that it is our generation that supervised the total destruction of our river bodies and the environment for our otherwise beautiful country.
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