Media Coalition Against Galamsey, Catholic Bishops, Trades Unions Call on government to Declare State of Emergency on All Water Bodies Else…..
Media Coalition Against Galamsey, Catholic Bishops Conference, Christian Council of Ghana among others have called on government to declare a state of emergency on all water bodies failure of which the Coalition says it shall advise itself.
Addressing a news Conference in Accra on Wednesday, the groups demanded of government among others things to halt all small scale mining as well as repeal the LI 2462 authorizing mining in Forest reserves.
Leaderships of the groups making up the coalition including GJA President, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, Dr. Ken Ashigbey, Convener of the Coalition and President of Catholic Bishops Conference Most Rev. Mathew Gyamfi took turns to lament on how lack of political will to deal with the cancer has exacerbated the situation to alarming levels.
According to the group, a time will come Ghanaians will be licking clay as the nephelometric turbidity units( NTU ) of water has hit 14,000 instead of the standard 2,000 NTI, hence the need for government to halt galamsey now.
Below is summary of their statement.
Today, the Media Coalition Against Galamsey, The Forum, The Trades Union Congress, The Ghana Federation of Labour, Kasa Initiative Ghana, The Ghana Catholic Bishop’s Conference, The Christian Council of Ghana, The Office of the Chief Imam, BRACE, EcoConscious Ghana, The One Ghana Movement, The CSOs Platform on SDGs, The Peasant Farmer Association of Ghana, and other CSOs are saying enough is enough. Enough of the government’s indifference to the fight against galamsey, the rape of our forest and river bodies and its focus on re-election. Enough of the disregard for Ghanaian lives lost to galamsey-associated fatalities, poisoning conflict, and human rights abuses. The poisoning of rivers and streams and the destruction of our forests through the government’s tacit and active policies have reached crisis proportions and demand urgent and unwavering action to restore confidence in leadership and uphold the rule of law in the country.
We are, therefore, calling on the Executive, elected officers of the state, and all appointed public servants, who are cared for and protected by the taxes of citizens and friends at home and abroad, to prioritise the social and environmental welfare of every Ghanaian by urgently finding immediate solutions to the national crisis concerning ecocide, the poisoning of rivers, and the destruction of our forest’s reserves.
Our demands:
- The President must declare a state of emergency over our water bodies & get the military to clear everyone found on the water bodies (mining on the water bodies is illegal)
- All planned and active mining concessions overlapping with river buffers should be abrogated and all mining activities within 100 meters buffer of all rivers and streams should be halted immediately by the President. Failure of which the President must implement the full force of Act 995 without fear or favour of political colour and status in society.
3.Almost all water bodies take their sources from the forest reserves, so all entry permits given to mine in protected globally significant biodiversity areas (GSBAs) must also be abrogated
- Repeal L.I 2462 immediately
- All the Presidential Candidates of the political parties vying for elections should publicly declare their total support for this crisis response.
Source:newsflashafrica.com