The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, through his Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, recently deployed over 200 military personnel to the various mining sites to stop illegal mining in the country. The soldiers have been tasked to search, locate and burn all equipment being used in the illegal business.
The decision follows several complaints regarding the pollution of our water bodies by these illegal miners, which is even making it virtually impossible for the Ghana Water Company (GWC) to draw raw water from the Pra River for treatment and subsequent distribution to the residents of Sekondi-Takoradi.
As ordered, the soldiers have started doing a great job by arresting suspected illegal miners and destroying their mining equipment. It, however, appears a section of the population are not happy with the choice of burning the mining equipment on site. Whilst those who are kicking against the practice, including OccupyGhana, are arguing from legal points of view, others also think instead of destroying the equipment, they should rather be given to the local assemblies to reshape the roads in the local communities.
Burning mining equipment such as excavators, which someone has toiled in his lifetime to acquire, is really painful. Indeed, The Chronicle has sighted a video that has gone viral on social media, where a young man is seen crying and sprawling on the ground as his mining equipment were being burnt by the security personnel. The Chronicle is also a business entity and will not be happy if we are faced with similar circumstances.
The truth must, however, be told that life is irreplaceable and since these illegal miners have defied all advice to stop their illegal trade, the penalty for their recalcitrant stance is the burning of the equipment. The river bodies these illegal miners are destroying are sources of potable drinking water for millions of Ghana. Should the state, therefore, sit aloof and allow the miners, who are in the minority, to put the lives of the rest of Ghanaian in danger? – the answer is obviously a big no!
Already the GWC is complaining about the difficulty it is having in treating water the river water, because apart from the dirty nature of the water, the illegal miners have also discharged all sort of dangerous chemicals into the river bodies, and they have to take time to extract all of them. Why should we, as a nation, continue to tread on this dangerous path where the lives of the entire population are being threatened?
For those arguing that the machines should not be burnt, but rather be given to the local assemblies, we were all in this country when similar machines seized by the Operation Vanguard Taskforce were surreptitiously given back to the owners, who also sent them back to the bush to continue with the illegality. We should not gloss over the fact that the issue at stake here is life and death, and NOT bread and butter.
Those of us living in Accra and Kumasi are not really feeling the heat, because the GWC will at all cost struggle to treat the water and pump it through pipes to our homes. Unfortunately, Ghanaians living in the villages in the mining enclaves do not have this advantage. Their sources of drinking water are gone because of the illegal mining activities, and yet, do not have the luxury of being served with treated water from the GWC.
Individuals and groups crying for these illegal miners appear to have underestimated the harm they are causing the environment, and subsequent threat to human survival. The military personnel are not destroying machines belonging to properly regulated mining companies, because they have not breached our environmental laws. As the adage goes, when persuasion fails, force must be applied. This is the time to apply force in the collective interest of the country
The post Editorial: No tears for illegal miners appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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