Awula Serwah, the Coordinator of Eco-Conscious Citizens, has accused the government of trivializing the lives of its citizens by failing to address illegal mining activities, commonly known as galamsey.
According to Serwah, before the elections, several measures were proposed to combat galamsey, including a targeted state of emergency in affected areas, the repeal of Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2462, which permits mining in forest reserves, and the creation of a specialized court to handle illegal mining cases.
She noted that the previous government failed to follow through on similar promises, which contributed to their electoral defeat. The current government, then in opposition, had pledged to declare a state of emergency and repeal L.I. 2462.
“It has taken the government nine months to say they are going to repeal L.I. 2462,” Serwah stated in an interview with Sir Richie on As It Is in Ghana on Rainbow Radio 92.4FM.
“Initially, they only made an amendment, not a complete repeal as we requested. Some media outlets were misled into believing it was a full repeal. In May, Sammy Gyamfi promised that Parliament would repeal the L.I. when it reconvened, but that didn’t happen. Now, in September, we are told that the ‘low-hanging fruit’ of L.I. 2462 will be presented to Parliament for repeal in October. This should have been an easy and swift action.”
The lawyer also highlighted that civil society groups, the Catholic Bishops Conference, and Organized Labour have all urged authorities to address the issue, as conditions had deteriorated under the previous administration.
She expressed concern that despite the new government’s numerous promises, it has since reversed its position.
“We are joking with the lives of Ghanaians,” she said. “Kidney disease has gone up fourfold. Deformities in babies have been reported, and for those in the diaspora, if you think you are safe, you need to think again because foodstuff from Ghana to the US were found to contain cyanide.”
She called for immediate action, urging citizens to “put our political parties aside” and “put Ghana first.”
She recalled that despite “engagements upon engagements” under the previous administration, nothing changed.
“We need to take action now. Illegal mining has national security implications. The illegal miners are environmental terrorists. They are getting stronger and stronger. Some of them are heavily armed… Let’s nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand,” she declared.
She further dismissed the argument that illegal miners need a livelihood. “We cannot allow criminally-minded people to destroy our water bodies and forest reserves because they claim not to have a livelihood,” she stated.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
