Kumasi: Dr. Owusu Fordjour Aidoo, an environmental scientist, is urging the government to tie district funding to environmental performance to jolt local authorities into doing more to check illegal mining in their communities. District Chief Executives (DCEs) and traditional rulers, he said, knew every illegal mining site in their area and could therefore not continue to be indifferent to what was happening. They should be pushed to lead the fight against this destructive activity.
According to Ghana News Agency, Dr. Fordjour Aidoo, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Environment and Sustainable Development, Somanya, and former University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) Branch chairman, made the call in a statement in Kumasi. He reminded the government that the success of its war on 'galamsey' would be measured not by the number of illegal miners arrested or soldiers deployed, but by how clean the rivers and streams became, as well as how many miners were helped to find safer work.
He emphasized the need for transparency and the deployment of technology to end the destructive activity. It should not be difficult for the government to publish real-time satellite data of deforestation and river pollution, as well as live GPS-tracked logs of seized excavators and other equipment. Additionally, the government should be bold in going after party financiers, local power brokers, and gold buying cartels fueling the illegal mining operation.
Dr. Fordjour Aidoo downplayed the growing calls for a state of emergency, asserting that it would not solve anything. What was needed, he said, was for the government to end political interference by not shielding any offender and to ensure fair and consistent enforcement of the law.
