Researcher, Priest and community mobiliser, Rev Fr Joseph Kwame Blay has emphasised the crucial role of community mobilisation in the fight against illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey.
Speaking in an interview with Bernard Avle on the Point of View on Channel One TV, Rev Fr Blay highlighted that efforts to combat galamsey will be ineffective without the active involvement of local communities.
This follows the firm stance taken by his community, Jema in the Western North region against galamsey.
He underscored the importance of grassroots participation, noting that residents are often the first to witness the environmental degradation caused by illegal mining activities.
Rev Fr Blay therefore noted that communities had the power to allow or not allow galamsey activities. "Yes, because Asem kurom (Jema's neighbouring community), we did everything but the security didn't help us…The boys arrested people even the Jema community went there to help them to arrest the boys.
We send them there, they leave them.
Contempt of court, we wrote don't do this, the next day they are there. "…The community has the power.
Especially see the irony of it is that you say you are bringing work to the youth and the youth say we have work.
Our work is cocoa and even this work that you are bringing is somebody's selfish work. "Galamsey or mining is not like building the Akosombo dam.
When Kwame Nkrumah was building the Akosombo dam it was something of national interest going to serve the whole nation.
So even if the communities there are against a government that is when in the land act government has the power to even take that land by force because there is a greater need but here all those who are mining are just individuals for selfish needs.
The one producing cocoa is helping the economy," he stated.