A member of the Western Region Peace Council, Yussif Gyamson, has predicted that an uprising by residents in communities affected by illegal small scale mining is on the horizon “considering the fact that these water bodies and forest bodies we are destroying are intrinsically linked to their very existence”.
He explained that residents in galamsey-plagued communities are conscious of the popular dictum that “when the last tree dies the last man dies” and therefore knows what do to stay alive.
“We know that the rivers and streams use to serve as a source of drinking water to many Ghanaians in these areas. They don’t have potable water as we have, they survive on natural water… streams and rivers with even better alkaline levels than we have in the cities.”
He questioned the claim of the vast “knowledge that water is life” when it is abundantly clear that “some people value some metal more than they do life”.
The clearly incensed former Presiding Member of the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly spoke at the assembly’s Second Ordinary Meeting of the Fourth Session.
“… destroying the future of unborn generations. If our parents had behaved this way would we have come to meet Ghana the way it is.
“But today most of us, you and I we are into mining gold. Using crude methods, very crude methods in mining gold, destroying water bodies and destroying our forests. Just because we want gold. Ghanaians are we not ashamed of ourselves.”
Mr. Gyamson indicated that “the people who are affected by the destruction of the water bodies and the forest will one day rise up against us”.
“And when they rise up our soldiers will find it difficult shooting and killing them because their numbers will be such that we will not have enough bullets to kill all of them so they will overtake us.”
By Eric Yaw Adjei