Hundreds of volunteers from A Rocha Ghana, a conservation organization have taken to the streets to press the government to take action against illegal mining, also known as galamsey.
The protesters, who held placards with messages demanding the government to act, scattered across the capital city, urging the President to take decisive steps to protect the country’s water bodies and forest reserves.
Speaking to Channel One News, the deputy director of A Rocha Ghana, Daryl Bosu, indicated that this is one of a series of activities aimed at putting pressure on the government and stakeholders to act to save the country’s water bodies and forest reserves.
Bosu expressed concern that despite the devastation caused by galamsey, government leaders seem indifferent to the issue.
“So this morning we are here sharing our statement for the government to stop galamsey right now and we represent several organisations, CSOs, several bodies, also professional bodies, demanding that the State take seriously the demands of organised labour, media coalition and religious bodies asking for the government to ban or to make sure that all mining activities, legal and illegal, ongoing rivers in the buffer areas as well as our forest reserves are halted with immediate effect.”
“And to declare a state of emergency and make sure that the mining regime that we have in this country is mainstream. We need to clean our rivers once more and make sure that we can provide clean drinking water for the people of Ghana.
“We cannot continue to behave as if this does not concern us, but, unfortunately, our leaders are sitting indifferently in their offices and watching the devastation going on in our communities.”
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