Feature: Mining Must Be Banned: The Catholic Church Leads the Call

Sanctam Ecclésiam Cathòlicam, the Latin for, the Holy Catholic Church, is perhaps the only Church which thinks of all people, the ordinary and the elites, without any discrimination
and has demonstrated many times over, that all of God’s creations must be honoured.

On July 25, 1968, in his Humanae Vitae encyclical, Pope St. Paul VI, reminded the whole world, that conjugal love must be fully human, total, faithful and fecund, and went on to prophesy, the dangers of accepting contraception. He was condemned, but twenty years
later, his prophecies started to come to pass, and to this day, with the rise of LGBTQ .

On May 24, 2015, in his encyclical, Laudato Si, sub-titled, On Care for our Common Home, Pope Francis lamented, among others, about environmental degradation and global warming. He told the whole world that our commitment is to uphold the sustainability of this planet and contribute to make it clean and safe, and bear in mind that we share the earth with other living things.

Like they did to Pope St. Paul VI, Pope Francis was also condemned for warning man of what will happen to the planet Earth, if we continue degrading the environment.
God keeps speaking to man through the Catholic Church, but just as His prophets were rejected in Sacred Scriptures, the world keeps turning deaf ears to the Church, which Jesus Himself founded and put in the care of His apostles who became popes and bishops, through to this day.

God’s will, is that this planet, should be beautiful and accommodative to all mankind. He looked at all He did and saw it was good but man thought he could make things better and the result is all the mess we find ourselves in.
Ghana is one of the world’s leading gold producers and today we are the leading producer in Africa. But we get nothing from it.

Apart from the NDC who in 1995, sold of all our shares in gold mining, Ghanaians watch on and allowed foreigners and some of our own nationals to degrade our environment in search of gold which is smuggled out. With heavy machinery, these illegal miners, make our youths take the risk, some dying in the process, to dig out gold ore and wash them
in our water bodies, in the act called galamsey. The youths are paid peanuts, while the foreigners make hundreds of millions of dollars on the international market, and Ghana
gets nothing.

Galamsey, is also making our cocoa production drop at an alarming rate. The president of the republic, H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, in 2017, put his presidency on the line, vowing to use all means under his power to eradicate galamsey from Ghana. On May 29, 2017 Major
Matthew Adam Mahama who was among military personnel sent to stop galamsey in the Denkyira area was lynched by some people of Denkyira Obuasi, while on duty for the state.

The galamsey situation even worsened. That foreigners get backing from the top can be proven in the case of a Chinese national, Aisha Huang, who was arrested for violating
Section 99(1) of the Minerals and Mining Act (2006) Act 706 and for killing Ghanaians who trespassed her territory in our forest.

She was set free and made to peacefully leave our land. Recently, a video making rounds in social media, shows a Westerner, alleged to be an Albanian, going deep into our forest and
engaging in galamsey, while fully escorted and protected by armed uniformed state security agents. Who ordered our police to protect this man who has come to destroy
our environment?

Most Rev Matthew Gyamfi, President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC), made it clear that government’s effort to stop galamsey has been weak and inconsistent. Filled with corruption, complicity of political leaders, some chiefs and lack of political will, the problem has further exacerbated, allowing illegal mining to thrive unchecked.

The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC), in 2009, asked all stakeholders to aim at
achieving the economic advantage for all Ghanaians. In 2010, the GCBC, reminded Ghanaians that God is the creator of all things and created man to take care of all creations. The Conference warned that the over-exploitation and unbridled use of nature was threatening to disrupt the ecosystem as designed by the Creator and is undermining
our survival, security and peace.

It spoke against the negative impact of mining, which results from the clearing of natural
habitats. The GCBC advocated the immediate abolitions of surface mining because of its obvious harmful social and environmental consequences. It commended the traditional rulers who were making great efforts to protect the environment.

In 2015, the GCBC drew attention of the laity of the Church to the importance of caring for the environment, strongly recommending the Laudato Si, to them. From 2016 to 2023, the GCBC spoke on the need to handle our environment well by among other things eliminating galamsey, which has devastating effect on the environment, our water bodies, the forest
reserves and the quality of life of our people.

Despite government’s agenda to put a stop to galamsey, the GCBC noted that the inability to achieve this, is because, some traditional leaders, politicians, government appointees
and security personnel among others were main financiers/ kingpins of this illegal mining.
With this comes the inability to prosecute those arrested for their involvement
in this act.

This year, the GCBC has issued a passionate call for government to declare a state of emergency to tackle the severe impact of illegal mining, known locally as “galamsey,” on the country’s water bodies and natural resources. “This is the time for righteous anger,” asserted Rev. Fr. Michael Quaicoe, the, GCBC’s Director for Governance, Justice and Peace. The Bishops’ Conference has been a vocal opponent of illegal mining, which it describes as a crime against Ghana’s ecosystem and its people, which I will add is sin against God.

The Metropolitan Archbishop of the Accra Catholic Archdiocese, Most Rev. John Bonaventure Kwofie in June, this year came out to bluntly speak against galamsey.
He issued a passionate plea for an end to illegal mining, expressing deep concern over the environmental degradation caused by its operations across Ghana.

He expressed frustration at the lack of effective action despite repeated calls for change, saying, “We have cried and cried out but without any positive response. Our waters are getting more and more dirty. The fishes are dying. Our cocoa farms are being overtaken by
galamsey. We think we are getting richer but in fact, we are getting poorer. When will this
nonsense be stopped?” he asked. “We are indulging in acts as if we have forgotten our future, our children’s children. We want to leave them impoverished.

Let us show that we are responsible for the future of our children and the future of our country,” he advised. “Do not be deceived. Gold will finish but trees will endure forever,” Archbishop Kwofie added. In this Election Year, apart from independent candidate, Alan
Kyerematen, who has come out to pledge banning galamsey, no other presidential candidate has come out to tell Ghanaians how they will address this illegalmining issue.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, king of Asanteman, has always come out to express his desire to eradicate galamsey from his kingdom.

He had impressed upon government to send security forces into the forests to get rid of the illegal miners. With his request not heeded to, he decided to use his authority as king, to discipline chiefs found to be involved in galamsey in Asanteman. He recently destooled three chiefs who evidence proved that they were into galamsey, in one way or the other.

Suddenly comes, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyeman Badu II, warning government that if it does not end galamsey, he and the chiefs of Bono will take back their lands. But galamsey takes place in the forests including cocoa farms, which are mainly privately owned, so which land will he take back? He has no power to discipline any paramount chief, because he is also one and has no authority over his colleagues.

Asantehene is a king and has paramount chiefs under him and has the authority to discipline any one who flouts the laws. Now the Dormaahene should know his level,
when talking about the Asantehene. H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo under pressure from the GCBC, Catholics and all well meaning Ghanaians to put an end to galamsey, came out to form a committee to address the issue. In my humble opinion, I think there is no need for any committee to sit to resolve this issue.

If H.E. has accepted that his initial agenda had achieved nothing, I will rather suggest that he orders all troops to go to the galamsey sites and arrest every one involved in the illegal
mining and place an indefinite ban on all forms of mining until the water bodies and lands have been reclaimed.

Ghana must take a cue from El Salvador, who in 2017 banned mining, after 90% of its water bodies were polluted with toxic chemicals used in mining. The Catholic Church led demonstrations in that country until the government banned mining.
In Ghana we watch on as Chinese and other non-nationals, yearly, smuggle billions of dollars worth of gold out of the country, and we get nothing out of this, but getting to the situation where we will soon import water and foodstuffs to survive.

The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference and all Catholics, must be guided by the Laudato Si, and lead in the struggle to restore our environment, as God desires it to be.

Written by
Hon. Daniel Dugan

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