This has been an eventful week in the mission to stop irresponsible and illegal mining and the destruction of Ghana's water bodies. Operation Halt II, an operation by the Ghana Armed Forces to remove those mining in Ghana's rivers is currently only focused on River Pra (pictured bottom right), a very important source of drinking water for many in the Western and Central regions of Ghana.
The destruction of River Pra and its main tributary, river Offin has been so bad that nobody currently has any idea how long it will take for them to become useful again. The usual lack of water situation, which residents of Takoradi, Cape Coast and surrounding areas have gotten used to, has only gotten worse, and is expected to continue.
This leaves many of us wondering if, and when this operation will get to rivers like Tano, Ankobra, Bonsa, Birim and others. The woefully inadequate buffer of 100m allowed in the current law makes a mockery of any attempt to salvage these rivers in the face of the greedy lot bent on destroying their own country.
Politicians continue to shield their own, failing to point out, arrest and prosecute the main players within their midst. Ghanaians were promised a list of those with prospecting licenses will be published by the Minerals Commission by May 7, 2021. We are still waiting for it. As the venerable Asantehene, Otumfuo Opoku-Ware II said at the recent regional consultative dialogue on small scale mining,
" 30% of the very people in the room discussing the issue of Galamsey know those involved in it." https://youtu.be/_IoUB1_2xmI
We of Galamsey Action Group will continue to stress the need for transparency, diligence and resolve in this fight. There is no room for business as usual. It is already too late for many of the rivers in Ghana.