Eight out of ten water treatment plants in Ghana have been shut down due to polluted rivers. Research indicates Ghana will import potable water in the next few years due to the galamsey activities across the country. The level of galamsey activities under the NPP is worse. President Nana Akufo Addo in his 2016 campaign promised to halt illegal mining now the situation is worse.
Sadly, both rivers and lagoons providing fish are all dead. Ghana now has no other option than to import over eighty per cent of fish. Ghana imports common toothpicks, matches, salt vegetables and fertilizer. With this narrow mindset, the one dollar will soon hit 50 dollars. We have leaders who can’t think outside the box.
Our leaders only think about their stomach and their family. Ghana needs a total overall. In the early days, illegal mining was done in the hinterland, today, galamsey activities are everywhere they fear not what will happen because both politicians and the traditional leader and the heads.
My fear is the health implications, what happens if we consume fish from Ghana? What happens to our crops? Are we saved?
Ghana’s mineral richness has proven to be both a boon and a bane. Ghana, like many other resource-rich nations, is endowed with an abundance of natural resources that have aided in the nation’s development. Ghana, once known as the Gold Coast, has profited greatly from the extraction of gold as well as other resources, including diamond, bauxite, manganese, crude oil, and copper.
The first commercially viable lithium deposit in Ghana was recently found by the Australian mining company Atlantic Lithium, providing another proof of the wealth that waits to be uncovered below the surface. A report on the mining industry published in November 2022 by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) states that between 2018 and 2020, the mining sector continuously contributed more than 7% of Ghana’s GDP.
The survey also stated that, after commerce, manufacturing, and agriculture production, the sector contributes the fourth most to the nation’s yearly gross production. The primary commodity we export from our mines is gold, which will generate 96% of the nation’s mining export earnings in 2021.
Unchecked and unrestricted mining can have negative externalities on the environment, the town, its residents, and their daily lives, despite the evident benefits. This is demonstrated by the fact that some of Ghana’s poorest and most miserable communities are found in the areas richest in gold or other minerals.
What is the way forward?
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