Opinions of Saturday, 3 June 2017

Columnist: theheraldghana.com

Captain Maxwell Mahama’s murder; is all about galamsey

Captain Maxwell Mahama Captain Maxwell Mahama

Whilst, we join the rest of Ghanaians to extend our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family, we wish to remind us all of the underlying current that have led to the untimely death of the young Captain.

The death of Captain Maxwell Mahama, although sad and regrettable, should not be in vain. The government must sustain the fight against galamsey, as it is clear that, it is not only leading to the destruction, pollution and degradation of our forest and water bodies, but has also become the harbinger for the murder and maiming of the innocent.

Captain Maxwell Mahama and his colleagues were in Diaso, not for excursion, but to protect the forest and prevent illegal mining, popularly called galamsey from taking place.

Those who took his life, from all indication did that intentionally. It was obvious they knew him; if not how will u explain away the lynching of one man by the whole village.

The burnt up anger was the reason why, they did not contemplate the idea of sending him to the police station.

The government’s fight against galamsey is yielding results and must be sustained. This unfortunate incident, must be used to send a strong message to all those, who are relentless in their resolve to continue violating our laws that, we have had enough of the impudence.

A moratorium has been placed on small scale mining, why can’t they respect the ban and work with the government to speedily and effectively resolve the issues, so that modalities which will be arrived at when implemented will be to the benefit of all.

For years these activities have been going and people, have made windfall, a little patients and we are fighting the government, including military and police personnel, who are sent there to mainatain law and order.

The greed creeping into our society, is what will eventually kill all of us.

May the soul of our fallen soldier rest in peace.