The Convener of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey, Dr Kenneth Ashigbey, has vowed that the fight against illegal mining will not be abandoned despite the enormous challenges it poses.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on October 1, Dr Ashigbey dismissed any suggestion that the anti-galamsey campaign was weakening.

“I wish I had the luxury of giving up,” the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Mines declared.

He pointed to disturbing findings on the devastating effects of illegal mining.

“If you see the reports you’re churning out, and you see some of the reports that the EPA has done with some partners, it is telling us that it’s not only the turbidity that is exceeded 98,000 NTU.

"But also the fact that what we all feared is what is happening, that we have been ingesting a lot of these pollutants.”

For him, the health and survival of citizens make the fight non-negotiable.

“We cannot, you know, give up. We need to fight this. People who are dying, people who are being poisoned, people who are being killed. And so the best we can do is to clutch at any straw that we have to be able to go up.”

Dr Ashigbey described illegal miners as “environmental criminals” who would rather see the campaign collapse. But he insisted that it would not happen.

“Unfortunately, the environmental criminals involved in this would want us to give up. But the bad news for them is that we are not going to give up, and we are going to continue fighting till we can clean our water bodies.”