Galamsey fight; genuine or a sham?

At this moment shall we all concede defeat to the fight against galamsey? At least we tried—or better still, pretended to try. Used all the tactics we know; persuasive, “buga-buga” and everything in between.  We talked tough—deployed legions of police and military and sent them after the operators, burnt their machines and confiscated some (which disappeared into the thin air by the way), arrested and jailed some among several other tactics. 

However, akin to the Greek mythological Medusa, several heads sprang up wherever the government ostensibly cut a head off. Isn’t it a curious paradox that the activities of galamsey get worse as the fight against it intensifies? From the video footages that surfaced in the media and online recently, the rivers are twice as murkier, and could be likened to a sludge. The vegetations are raped just as much; and as for the politics and the NATO (No action, talk only) tough-talk, you can taste it in the air. Indeed, the president promised to put his presidency on the line in the fight against galamsey. Perhaps he was talking about the sidelines. 

 

Admittedly, one could see this coming. Once the “kill list” targeted only the boys who swim in the mud and labor for mere pittance, it was a foregone conclusion that the fight was a losing one. How else did excavators turned out to disappear without trace? Why else would the President declare Akonta mining, which is owned by Chairman Wuntomi, free of guilt ahead of a Probe that was launched into it? Aisha Huang was set free until she was rearrested on her return to engage in the same business. Evidently it has been a clear masking of complicity with a combative posturing all along. 

Arguably, the stubbornness of the galamseyers is reinforced by the knowledge that companies owned by politicians are deeply involved in the same trade. And justifiable so; why would they, whose operations compared to that of the politicians is just like a drop in the bucket, be asked to stop instead while the politicians rage on? 

And worse yet, the coup de grâce, I believe, is the cases associated with the Inter Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining. The Committee that was set up to spearhead the fight against galamsey which  is now froth with accusations and counter-accusations. The findings of the committee, which implicated some big names in the government has been quashed and rubbished. Professor Frimpong-Boateng who chaired the committee, and published the report was arrested and granted bail. Charles Bissue is busily seeking refuge under prohibitory injunctions to elude an arrest warrant by the Office of the Special Prosecutor for corruption-related allegations.

Apparently the whole fight was a sham. Deliberately crafted to make it look as though they’re fighting illegal mining while they actually make it worse. The government kept throwing good money after bad by procuring boats, helicopters and what have you, when all we need is just a political will. A POLITICAL WILL!