Where is our conscience in ‘galamsey’ fight?

Small-scale illegal mining, popularly referred to as ‘galamsey,’ poses serious threats to human life and the environment.

In many communities in the country, wanton environmental destruction and pollution of water bodies are worrying developments of the activities of illegal mining.

While efforts have been made by government agencies, including security agencies and civil society organisations to clamp down on illegal mining, the challenges wrought by ‘galamsey’ persist and remain burdensome, sometimes with fatal outcomes.

The media have over the years played a very important role in highlighting the issues related to small-scale illegal mining.

While there is unanimity that such illegal mining activities place many communities and human lives in dire risks, the quest for a sustained effort to address the crisis has proved quite elusive: government interventions through security agencies have often been reactive; usually protests reach a crescendo following sustained media coverage of the menace but after a while, any gains made are eroded as the miners resume their operations with gusto.

The issue of galamsey seems to attract more critical media reviews because of the extent of damage as a result of the highly mechanised nature, the direct result of the influx of foreigners and their introduction of some modern machinery into the operations of small-scale miners.

Thus, what used to be simple surface mining by indigenes in mining communities to help improve their livelihoods has been transformed into highly mechanised operations with more devastating effects on the environment and poor management of the after effects of the operations.

The tell-tale signs of the destruction of galamsey are all over us: the depletion of our forest and harmful effects on the soil.

For us, the deforestation caused by activities of illegal mining can also exacerbate climate change.

This may be due to the basic knowledge from all levels of our education that trees help absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Today, our water bodies have been seriously contaminated with mercury and other harmful chemicals; thus destroying the aquatic life of our rivers.

Other harmful effects of galamsey include air pollution and the destruction of the ecosystem.

Galamsey endangers wildlife and human health.

Again, the activities of illegal miners have the potential to cause irreparable harm to the local population which can lead to health and safety issues, economic losses and social disruption.

Where is our conscience as a country to allow galamsey to eat deep into our fibre to become a national canker?

For us, this is not a fight we must lose.

We must confront this canker head-on and ensure that it is nipped in the bud.

Perhaps, the less difficult tasks that can help reduce illegal mining activities include raising public awareness of the life-threatening impact of destroying water bodies, sustaining community engagement in monitoring illegal activities and exploring innovative political-willed state-led operations to end the canker.

The country’s fight against illegal mining at this stage is that of hopelessness, but looking on while politicians engage in accusation and counter-accusation as the destruction goes on is to place the fate of generations unborn in danger.

Let us all get involved because the destroyers may be few but the impact of their activities will affect all of us today and the unborn.