Former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has opined that our inability to fight galamsey is due to weak enforcement systems, local-level complicity, and political interference.
The celebrated heart surgeon said there was the need for a national consensus to achieve lasting and sustainable mining in Ghana.
He made the remarks at the 20th Annual Kronti ne Akwamu Democracy and Governance Public Lecture, themed “Galamsey: A Country in Search of Solutions in Plain Sight.”
The Kronti ne Akwamu Lecture is CDD-Ghana’s flagship annual platform on democracy and governance, aimed at bridging the gap between reflection, research, analysis, and pro-democracy advocacy.
He said Ghana needs a national dialogue on proper, sustainable mining in the country.
“For me, as a doctor and as a scientist, when I hear that because of eight or ten billion dollars the environment has to be destroyed, it’s a pity. The trees are the most prominent things in the forest or farmlands, but there are things even more important than the trees. There are so many resources in our forests that can give us more money than gold,” he said.
“But if gold must be mined, it should be done sustainably and with respect for the environment. There should be a national consensus. It’s a very complex issue, so people need to sit down and come up with suggestions and solutions—solutions that may be unpalatable, but we must implement them,” he noted.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
