The Ghana Coalition Against Galamsey (GCAG), together with the University Teachers Association (UTAG) and other environmentally inclined Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have signed a pact with the six of the 12 persons vying for election to be Ghana’s president in the general elections, to end illegal mining.
The parties that signed on to the pact include, the Nationaal Democratic Congress (NDC), The New Patriotic Party, The Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), the Movement for Change, the All Peoples’ Congress (APC) and an independent candidate, George Twum-Barimah-Adu.
President of the University of Ghana branch of the UTAG, Professor Ransford Van Gyampo, explained following months of futile advocacy to get government to tackle the galamsey menace, the UTAG came to the decision that it would be a more fruitful endeavour to get the aspirants to commit to the fight, rather than continue trying to get the attention of a government that had lost interest in the fight.
Based on this, they decided to partner with the larger coalition of CSOs to present this pact of what he described as “the tangible things that must be done” to the various presidential aspirants.
He said, “We’ll use the pact as a tool of accountability. If you sign with us, then we can demand that you act, then, we can be very much strengthened to speak in a language that is better understood by government, should they fail to go by the dictates of the pact.”
The National Chairman of the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers’ Union of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), stated that the fight against galamsey would be unrelenting as “this is a fight that borders on our livelihoods.”
He pledged the perpetual support of GTPCWU to the anti-galamsey fight to ensure the protection of the nation’s water bodies and natural environment.
The Convener of the GCAG, Ing. Dr. Ken Ashigbey, said the immediate plan of action for the coalition post-election is to “write an RTI request to the Minerals Commission and to the EPA, we’re going to find out whether with government telling us it is going to repeal that particular act, they are still granting permission for people to go into the forest reserves. You can tell from the Fourth Estate’s work that they did that a lot of the people who were given permission to go into the forest reserve are politically exposed people.”
He accused the middle class of society of being complicit in the perpetuation of galamsey in the country, as they have been the bankrollers of these operations.
He said, “We have failed ourselves and past generations, and if we do not change the way we are going, we’ll also fail the future.”
By SELORM GBORBIDZI, Accra
