The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and several other health unions and associations, have urged President Nana Akufo-Addo to immediately ban all small-scale mining operations, whether legal or illegal.
The call comes in response to the increasing destruction of the country’s forest reserves and water bodies, along with the serious public health and environmental threats posed by individuals and organizations involved in illegal mining, also known as galamsey.
The unions and associations making this appeal, include the GMA, the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), the Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA), and the Health Services Workers Union of Ghana (TUC).
Other signatories to the statement are the Medical Laboratory Professional Workers’ Union (MELPWU), the Mortuary Workers’ Association of Ghana (MOWAG), the Ghana Association of Certified Registered Anesthetists (GACRA), the Health Accounting Staff Association (HASAG), and the Ghana Physician Assistants Association (GPAA).
In a statement issued on Friday, the groups warned that Ghana, is on the brink of an environmental catastrophe that, if not addressed immediately, will severely endanger the health, well-being, and future of its citizens.
“Therefore, we as Associations and Trade Unions in the health sector holding collective bargaining certificates on behalf of health sector employees make the following demands: The President of the Republic of Ghana should direct a total ban on small-scale mining operations with immediate effect, whether legal or illegal.”
“The government of Ghana should strengthen regulatory enforcement by resourcing the relevant security agencies to clamp down on all persons who flout this directive and prosecute them expeditiously.
“All political parties should make a public declaration and publish a duly signed document on their commitment to fight illegal and unethical mining activities in Ghana,” they stated.
Below is the joint-statement by the unions;
