Story by: Daniel Asare
Photograph of Prof. Stephen Adei
A renowned Economist who doubles as the former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Professor Emeritus Stephen Adei, has chastised politicians for their lack of commitment in fighting the galamsey menace.
According to him the issue of “galamsey” is the root cause of Ghana’s national Leadership failure in both political and the traditional settings.
Speaking on Accra-based Joy FM, Professor Adei called for a national emergency to be declared but said he does not believe it will be done within the next three months.
The past chairman of National Development Planning Commission however hopes that the first hundred days of any government that means business should not sit on it.
He added that the said government should order all earth moving equipment to be moved out of the various river bodies and the forest including those for road construction.
Professor Adei stressed that the earth moving equipment for road construction should be assemble at the district capitals.
He suggested that person who fails to move their equipment out of the various river bodies and the forest reserves should have their equipment destroyed to serve as a deterrent to others.
The revered academician further called for a strategy to have all persons involved in the illegal mining activity registered adding that if there are foreigners, the state should take steps to extradite them back to their countries.
He believes these are measures the state needs as soon as possible to help salvage the situation before it gets out of hand.
Ghana, known as the “Gold Coast,” has a long history of gold mining. However, the unregulated extraction of minerals has not only led to serious pollution, deforestation, and land degradation but also poses health risks to the environments.
Whiles some patriotic citizens and journalists in country have pushed hard and still publishing articles on the need to abolish illegal mining for gold in Ghana, Some bigwigs including stakeholders are calling for proper measures to mitigate the problem.