National Coordinator of Echo Conscious Citizens, Awula Serwaa, has posited that illegal miners are environmental terrorists whose interest is centred on greed; hence their desire to destroy our environment for financial gains.
She wants the government to declare them enemies of the state and take all necessary measures to deal with them.
Speaking on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, she noted that the “illegal miners have declared war” on Ghanaians by going about destroying our water bodies and forest reserves.
She told host Kwabena Agyapong that when you go about destroying our water bodies and forest reserves, “it is an act of war”.
Awula Serwaa stated that the Blue Water Guards lack the technical skills to deal with galamsey, but if we still want to use them, we may deploy them once the military has finished pursuing down the illegal miners.
According to her, the argument that illegal miners have no jobs is not entirely true because some of them have jobs that they have abandoned because the galamsey is said to give them more money.
“The illegal miners are environmental terrorists. At the moment, the illegal miners have declared war because when they go about poisoning people’s water sources, it is actually a declaration of war.”
She said we are currently facing a crisis that needs urgent attention from authorities.
The advocate remarked that every day we wait is too long because one excavator can destroy approximately 1.5 hectares of land in a single day, warning that if we do not take precautions, we will no longer have any forest reserves.
She opposed suggestions for the introduction of a shoot-to-kill policy against the illegal miners.
“Even in wartime, there is something known as rules of engagement. For example, you don’t shoot somebody who is running away or who has their hands up or is showing a white flag. What a state of emergency is going to do is give the army the resources and authority they need to go to our forest reserves and water bodies and get rid of the illegal miners.”
She added that the best approach is to give an alert to the illegal miners to vacate the reserves and water bodies, or they will be treated as enemies.
Awula Serwaa maintained that our soldiers should only shoot when they are under threat.”We face an existential threat, and we think that a state of emergency is a way of getting the army to help us solve the problem, but I do not support shoot to kill.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
