By Prince Acquah
Assin Bosomadwe (C/R) Sept 29, GNA –The Environmental Remediation Forum Ghana (ERF Ghana), an NGO working to protect the environment, has urged the chiefs and people of Assin Bosomadwe in the Central Region to rise up in arms against anybody attempting to mine illegally in the agrarian community.
It warned that the environmental and health ramifications of illegal mining (galamsey) were irreparable and fatal and therefore entreated them to fiercely protest and resist the menace.
Mr Philip Arkhurst, the Founder and Director of the Forum, insisted that while mining was a necessary economic venture, it must be done legally and properly without threats to the environment and human lives.
“Galamsey will destroy your forests and introduce poisonous substances like cyanide and mercury into your water bodies and soil, but we need to protect the water bodies at all costs,” he stressed.
“It is the reason why many people are getting liver and kidney problems recently and many others are dying,” he added.
The Forum engaged the community to mark the commencement of an intensive campaign against illegal mining (galamsey) and bad agricultural practices, particularly in communities yet to be affected by the devastating menace of galamsey.
Mr Arkhurst entreated members of the community to promptly report any form of illegal mining activities in the area to nip it in the bud.
He further warned against the excessive use of agro-chemicals for farming, cautioning that it rendered the soil barren in the long run and affected human health.
He urged the chiefs to lead the charge against the use of such chemicals and adopt more environmentally friendly ways of farming.
Mr Abdul Raman, a member of ERF Ghana, educated the people of the various forms of farming and re-echoed the need to avoid galamsey at all cost.
“We need to rise up against galamsey because very soon, the environment cannot be redeemed,” he said.
Chiefs in the Area, accused politicians of actively enabling and engaging in galamsey, maintaining that the menace could only be contained if politicians desisted from it.
Nana Agyemang Boti Yaw II, the Gyaasehene of the Bosomadwe community called for an end to the politicisation of galamsey, urging politicians to sincerely fight the canker.
Ebusuapanyin Kwame Philip, Elder of the community expressed disquiet over the lack of employment in the community and called for the creation of jobs to dissuade the youth from engaging in galamsey.
“There are no jobs here. If we can get one or two factories here, I don’t think anyone will be interested in destroying our environment for money.”
On the use of agro-chemicals for farming, he called on government to ban the importation of agro-chemicals to prevent farmers from using them.
He thanked the Forum for the education and urged them to extend the gesture to more communities to arm them with knowledge for them to act decisively.
GNA
Edited by Alice Tettey /Kenneth Odeng Adade