Audio By Carbonatix
The General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church, Reverend Professor Paul Frimpong-Manso has expressed worry over the persistent nature of illegal mining activities, popularly called 'galamsey' in the country.
The Reverend has listed three factors causing the menace that some experts are now referring to as environmental terrorism.
According to him, greed, indiscipline and a lack of vision not by authorities only but by every citizen of the country are the cause of the endangering activity.
"Greed, Indiscipline, lack of vision. We are greedy, we are indisciplined, we lack vision, and we are not thinking about the future generation. All Ghanaians.
"The difference between Frimpong-Manso Institute and other institutions is that most of them will say it is the president, the MP, or the DCE and will be complaining and make sure that these people act. But for me, for our institute, we all are culprits.
"The one who is digging the pit in that village and the one who is selling it, the one who is buying the excavators in Accra, the one who's supposed to enact laws, the one who's supposed to make laws work, the one who's paid to sit at the office to make sure that the right things are done.
"Everybody's body is inclusive. It's like the sinking Titanic. All of us are sinking and all of us are watching aloof," he said on JoyNews' AM Show on Monday.
Prof. Frimpong-Manso says the Chinese Nationals are being blamed for the heinous activity but what also needs attention is how they got to the mining sites in the first place.
According to him, the Chinese could not have located the areas where illegal activities are taking place now without any local person leading them.
He has also expressed disappointment at chiefs supposed to be custodians of the land but have become accomplices by giving out their lands for illegal activity.
Commenting on Government efforts to remedy the situation, Prof. Frimpong-Manso added that although government can be lauded for setting in place bodies to fight against illegal mining, it certainly needs to do more by ensuring laws are enforced.
Environmental advocacy groups have been on the hills of government for accelerated efforts and intentionality in fighting the canker.
They believe that if government truly wants the crime to stop, the menace would be eradicated within a short period of time.
This situation is raising alarming concerns as water body pollution is getting intensified.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Water Company had warned that the country would have to resort to importing water at some point in case the situation remains unresolved over a prolonged duration.
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