The Fight Against Galamsey Must Be A Collective Responsibility | Features

The Convention Peoples Party has noticed with great concern the Politicization of the fight against Illegal mining which has destroyed almost all of our River bodies and our arable lands.

It is important to note that the Galamsey menace has been a LEGACY problem that has been inherited by successive governments since 1992 as documented by THIRD WORLD NETWORK (GHANA) IN 2007

The Study about the effect of mining activities on the host and surrounding communities revealed that mining communities are worse off in terms of Socioeconomic development.

It is a known fact that former ministers of Lands and Natural resources under the erstwhile John Mahama Administration namely Hon Inusah Fuseni and Hon Mahama Ayariga almost threw their hands in despair due to the Herculean task of fighting the Illegal mining.

According to Research by INTERNATIONAL GROWTH CENTER (IGC) under the topic THE IMPACT OF CHINESE INVOLVEMENT IN SMALL-SCALE GOLD MINING IN GHANA

Small-scale gold mining and foreign involvement especially by Chinese miners became a very controversial issue in Ghana in 2012 and 2013 leading ultimately to the formation of the Inter-Ministerial Task Force by former president Mahama, although their operation did not yield the results Ghanaians anticipated.

It is therefore unfortunate that at this crucial point in the history of Ghana when we as Citizens and Patriots who should stand shoulder to shoulder and fight to save our lands and river bodies will engage in petty partisan blame games with the mischievous mindset of scoring political points ahead of the 7th December Elections.

The CPP is happy and grateful and wishes to take this opportunity to thank Organized Labour for putting Ghana first, by rescinding their decision not to embark on their initial planned strike.
Again the CPP is calling on the government to place a temporal ban on all Small-Scale and Medium-Scale Mining.

On our part as Patriots and the political party that won independence for Ghana, the CPP does at this moment propose “OPERATION SEE GALAMSAYER, REPORT GALAMSEYER”. While we believe that demonstrations in the regional capitals to draw the attention of policymakers and those entrusted with our authority as government is a constitutional right and a good thing, we also have to admit that they cannot do it alone.

We are therefore calling on all Ghanaians to Report activities of Illegal mining in their communities to Unit committee members, their assembly members, their Chiefs, the nearest police station and the MMDCE of their district. 

In cases where the aforementioned authorities cannot assist, we recommend that a report be made to the CPP constituency and regional offices, where our legal affairs committee is willing to use legal means to seek justice for the people.  

FORWARD EVER, BACKWARD NEVER!
SIGNED
OSEI KOFI ACQUAH
NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR OF THE CPP