Dr Ing.
Ken Ashigbey, Convenor of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey, has strongly condemned politicians involved in illegal mining activities, commonly known as galamsey.
He cited examples of companies like Akonta Mining and Heritage Imperial, which have been implicated in illegal activities in forest reserves, yet have evaded accountability despite multiple petitions.
According to him, politicians have profited significantly from exploiting mining to the detriment of citizens.
Dr.
Ashigbey commended journalists for their efforts in exposing illegal mining.
He urged journalists to hold leadership accountable for the surge in galamsey, during an interview with Selorm Adonoo on The Point of View on Channel One TV.
His comments followed an announcement by Ghana Water Limited (GWL) that Cape Coast, Elmina, and surrounding communities in the Central Region will face water challenges due to galamsey. "I'm happy that journalists again have risen to the task, and as the constitution empowers you to do, we need to hold leadership to account." He stressed the importance of a unified approach, urging all politicians to put aside their political differences and work together to combat galamsey. "The challenge we have is that our politicians have benefitted out of this illegality, out of this exploitation and they continue to do that.
It's really important that we look at our politicians in the eyes and say, we are in a crisis, at this stage, the current vice President [Dr Bawumia] and former President [John Mahama] should be coming together and working with the current President.
And say that so far as this crisis is concerned, we're not going to play politics with it…This is the time all the politicians would have to come together and say how do we deal with it?
Because all of them are in the failure, they should be part of the solution.
But, we need to change the way we do our things. "The media unfortunately are our last vanguard, you need to rally around together and see how we sustain this and hold the feet of the current president, the current government and everybody and ensure we do a reversal of this.
Otherwise, for us, hope will not save us, but the haemorrhage has to stop," he opined.
GWL, in a statement, explained that the catchment area's pollution has reduced water intake to a minimal level, with approximately 60% of the catchment capacity silted due to Galamsey.
The Company explained that the Sekyere Hemang Water Treatment Plant (WTP) has experienced a significant demand-supply gap due to inadequate raw water intake, caused by pollution of the Pra River.