By King Amoah
Amidst Ghana’s ongoing battle against the devastating impact of illegal mining locally known as galamsey, a voice from the Convention People’s Party (CPP) is challenging the government’s approach that allegedly tends to be a lip service by arresting galamsey labourers instead of the real culprits.
Mr. Richard Manu a stalwart of the Offinso in Ashanti regional branch of the CPP asserts that the fight against galamsey has become a charade designed to arrest, prosecute and jail hungry labourers who are engaged by the site owners to work for them.
His critique comes as public frustration mounts over the seemingly endless cycle of state interventions that yield little tangible impact on the ground.
Speaking to the correspondent in an exclusive interview Manu expressed worry that despite numerous steps taken by the successive administrations from the past Akuffo Addo government to the current regime no impact comes from such operations whilst huge sums of state funds are used for the purpose.
This expenditure he said is a wasteful exercise as it fails to address the core problems.
According to the outspoken CPP supporter the government’s anti galamsey task forces consistently miss their mark of arresting the rea culprits behind the illegal mining.
Instead of targeting the chiefs and buyers of galamsey concessions Manu lamented, government refuses to direct anti galamsey task force to arrest such chiefs and buyers of galamsey concessions.
This alleged striking omission highlights a perceived lack of political will or a deliberate misdirection of efforts, he observed.
Manu’s observation is grim yet consistent: He indicated that whenever we hear of galamsey arrest we only see the labourers who are employed on sites.
This raises a critical question about the justice being served and the ultimate beneficiaries of the illegal trade be pointed out.
Manu directly challenged the government to explain whether those labourers arrested are the landowners of the concessions.
The answer he gave is no to underscore the fundamental injustice of the current strategy.
In his view, Ghana as a nation controlled by the judiciary should be fair with the justice and avoid pretending as if we want to stop the illegal mining.
He intimated that the current approach is a veiled attempt to appear proactive without genuinely dismantling the intricate networks that fuel galamsey.
Concluding his plea, Manu posited that if we continue to arrest, prosecute and jail galamsey labourers as a cover whilst leaving the chiefs and buyers of galamsey concessions then we should stop making noise as if government is on the right way to stop the menace of illegal mining.
His statement serves as an urgent call for a radical shift in strategy that demand that the authorities should confront the powerful individuals who profit most from environmental destruction, rather than scapegoating the impoverished hands they employ.
The fight against galamsey, Manu insists must move beyond superficial arrests to tackle the true sources of the problem.
