A former Deputy Minister for Education and the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has in our view, made a strong case regarding how to deal with the galamsey menace in the country. In a message he reportedly posted on his Facebook wall, the legislator is calling on all political parties to declare zero tolerance policy for party financing by galamsey lords.
The Chronicle has always insisted that the young boys who are being chased and arrested by the security agencies for polluting our water bodies are small fishes working for influential people living in Kumasi and Accra. Looking at the sophisticated machines being used for the illegal activities, one wonders how these poor boys can raise funds to acquire them.
Information we are picking indicates that some of these excavators being used to destroy the environment in the name of mining gold are not registered by the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA). The importers of these machines dully pay all customs duties, but instead of getting them registered by the DVLA, they are smuggled into the bush to wreak havoc on the environment.
Obviously, it is only persons who wield political powers that can misconduct themselves in such a way. The Okudzeto pronouncement or suggestion is a clear manifestation that the chickens have come home to roost. In simple terms, politicians are a major part of the factors behind the troubling situation facing the country.
The Chronicle is, therefore, calling on the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), the National House of Chiefs and pressure groups in the country to mount a sustained pressure on all the political parties, especially the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to openly declare their stance against financing of their activities by colleagues who are neck-deep in galamsey activities.
We believe if this is done, it would discourage people from using party cards as the basis to launch attacks on our environment, as we are currently witnessing in the country. Any politician who defies sound advice to engage in illegal mining must also be dealt with in accordance with our laws. However, whilst commending Okudzeto for his stance on the issue, we think his advocacy should not end there – he must also advice his party followers and communicators to stop chastising the government for the strong stance she has taken against the illegal miners.
We were in this country when a number of excavators seized during the previous operation Vanguard vanished from the various garages they were being kept and yet, we are accusing the government of being insensitive for ordering the military to burn the excavators being used for the illegal mining.
This hypocritical stance must cease if we are to move forward in the fight against illegal mining and subsequent pollution of our water bodies, which we, as human beings, depend on for survival. Let us all muster the courage to call a spade a spade and not a big spoon.
The post Editorial: Samuel Okudzeto’s suggestion is apt appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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