Illegal mining, popularly called ‘Galamsey’, has remained one of the most never ending predicament confronting the nation, in its quest to preserve our water bodies and forests.
The situation is so disturbing that, every trick in the book, has been tried, but yet the situation keeps getting worse by the day.
It is a highly organised, syndicate- run activity and those behind it are living large at the expense of the nation.
Because of the nature of the personalities involved, all efforts to stamp it out has not yielded any appreciable result.
In 2017, the new administration of Nana Akufo-Addo, in response to public outcry, including a coalition made up of Journalists against galamsey, put it best foot forward, when it launched operation Vanguard.
As should be expected, the Operation Vanguard, has been nothing but a political rhetoric, which was meant to sway peoples’ attention from the political class, who were involved in the Illegal Mining.
Then came Aisha Huang, who has been described as Galamsey Queen, her arrest and Attorney General’s filing of Nolle prosequi, as well as the then Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Marfo’s justification of her release.
In the considered opinion of this newspaper, the launch of Operation Vanguard and its attendant problems was because the operation, was not thought through well.
Informed opinion has it that, the fight against the menace of illegal mining, will not be won; because the same people, who are put in charge to fight it, are themselves neck deep in it.
The country, witnessed how military men deployed to the mining sites, turn around to provide security to the very people, they were supposed to be fighting.
It is clear that the illegal mining, which seems to have defied all practical solutions, is an organised crime involving the untouchables in the society.
The government has announced another attempt at fighting the menace. This newspaper is of the opinion that, rather than the government to engage in yet another spending spree under the guise of fighting galamsey, it must do the needful by getting to the root of this organised crime, name and shame all those behind it and then, fully mobilise the nation’s security operatives to effectively guard the water bodies and forests.
