When it comes to effective governance of our nation today, it is logical and appropriate to state that our leadership is sleeping on the wheels for it is only in Ghana where illegal immigrants(Chinese nationals) are allowed to engage in illegal mining to the detriment of the country’s environment. Our dear country after 54 years of independence is saddled with extreme partisan politics and greed which has unfortunately derailed our engine of growth. We lack policy to deal with issues that affect the basis of our existence which brings to mind the question of whether we have a functional system. Do we have an efficient land or crime bill in our nation today at a time when we are overwhelmed with related cases? No. As worried as I am based on available facts, I cannot rebuke the legislative body (Parliament) because by our constitution all bills and policies must be initiated by the Executive President (Prof. Atta Mills) before it can be discussed at the parliament after it has been drafted by the Attorney General so if the country is not functioning because of lack of needed laws to deal with issues i.e. the galamsey menace, the person to be blamed is the President. How come that we have over 500 (five hundred) illegal immigrants (Chinese Nationals) in Manso District alone causing enormous damage to our environment and nobody seems to care? How come, we lack prudence in management and fortitude in our political decisions to defend the general good, as everything and anything we do have to align with our personal and political interest? It is not surprising that greed has affected our conscience and the urge to glue ourselves to power has even made us more corrupt which have lately raised comments from our past political leaders.
Why is President Atta Mills complaining and lamenting about something which is illegal? Where are the police and the military? Is this the first time that we have witnessed disasters from the illegal mining on our people? Have we thought about the many people who cannot get access to good drinking water because of the activities of galamsey? Let us not fool ourselves by assuming that we are not aware of the problems in the respective mining areas and Ghana at large. The indigenes of Atiwa have long complained about the destructive consequences of illegal mining in the area without any governmental responds so why is the leadership reacting now to something he knew but failed to deal with? Is the paramount chief of the area denying the fact that he had no knowledge of the activities of these illegal miners? The whole area is infested with Chinese nationals and I can bet my last dollar on the fact that our President saw many during his tour.
I am not against the idea of our brothers and sisters getting work to do in an economy that is starving with jobs. My beef here is about ensuring REGULATORY MEASURES. If our society is not managed properly, it will turn into a jungle where people acting as rationale “economic beings” will do anything possible to amass wealth at the expense of the masses. How do we allow the Chinese nationals who are here on visas unrelated to their mining adventures, to venture our land and degrade it with impunity? They dreg the water bed in pursuit of gold and in the process turn drinking water muddy which invariably deny our small towns of water. Besides, these illegal miners have formed a lot of death traps by creating a lot of large holes. Why should we deny our brothers and sisters water to drink and endanger their lives because of someone’s greed? Do the galamsey operators or the government provide good drinking water for the deprived areas? No, why can’t the government protect the weak citizens in our nation?
Today, we are vehemently talking about Atiwa because of the flood but the issue is larger and we all know it. There are over 500 hundred Chinese nationals in Manso District alone doing serious damage to the environment and both the law makers and the executive look on as if it is Christmas. Paradoxically, I just found that we have a Secretary for Environment in the name of Mrs S. Aryetey and I am wondering whether she has travelled to Eastern, Ashanti and Western regions before to witness for herself the level of damage to our ecology. If she has, what has she done when our lands and rivers have been encroached and destroyed by foreign and some local nationals? If she has not then that is too bad. Wow! What a shocker! What a joke! What a nation!
Did our President see the Chinese foreign nationals when he visited Atiwa? I am not against foreign nationals i.e. Chinese nationals. What I hate and despise is their utter disregard for our laws and disrespect for our people. Can I or anybody go to China and buy a house? Hell no! Why do we allow them to come here and flout our laws, degrade our land and deny our suffering people of water? Do they pay TAXES? No. Do they pay VAT? No. Are we serious as a country? We must be jokers to allow these menaces to germinate in our socio-economic arena. We better start behaving like business –minded people filled with patriotism and love for one’s country to redeem this sinking nation. The attitude and believe of many Ghanaians in the philosophy of ‘each one for himself, God for us all ’syndrome should give way to a more positive elements of reasoning and fortitude, and it takes leadership.
Countrymen and women, it is crunch time and we better be up and running before the unexpected happens. As a matter of developing a policy framework to deal with this menace, I would suggest that we (1) develop a business freedom environment that will make it possible for galamsey operators to register many small scale setups which can be identified and taxed accordingly. (2) Create a Land Reclamation Dept in all districts to ensure that all excavated areas are covered. (3) make sure that mining operators post bond with the District Assembles. (4) Create EPA in all mining related Districts. (4) Ensure heavy fines for violation of state law.
Although, it sounds strange, I strongly feel that as citizens we are all participants of the land degradation crime at various levels. There are many of us who witnessed the harm and decided not to say anything for various reasons. There are others who condoned and conspired with these illegal miners by allowing them to maneuver easily with bribes where necessary; police officers visit the mining areas occasionally and collect their booty and leave whiles other government bodies like the EPA also visit the area from Accra to also collect their booty; chiefs and other key players in the political arena (i.e. DCE’s) also collected their shares in their personal capacities to the disadvantage of the general good. This has been the story about the attitude of the ordinary Ghanaian submerged in the destructive philosophy of “each one for himself and God of us all”.
The argument from President Mills on the purchase of the five jet planes and it uses on emergency issues like the Atiwa flooding is unfortunate. Apart from helicopters which the administration refused to add to its fleets, no aircraft can land in any of the areas prone to disasters like Atiwa, Ashiama, Gomoa or Keta. It is therefore unfortunate for the President to join the current hollow argument to buttress the sale of the 5(five) jets when we cannot get money to finish Kumasi –Accra road. Where are our priorities?
The nature of politics and politicians in our dear nation is very complex and extremely intriguing. Until the day that we will have the likes and thinking of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, whose will was about his salaries, we will be governed by people who believes in making clean deals to enrich themselves without regard to the priorities and needs of the masses. The 31st December Revolution had it reasons and that explains the anger of the founder of the NDC, former President Rawlings. He has vivid memory of the past, the sacrifices of many, and understands the implications of the future in relation to the current political pendulum, hence, his anger about the greedy bastards. This is real Ghana for you! There is no integrity and truth about anything in Ghana today, but greed and lies making intelligent people blind to the truth.
Where are we going as a country? We have a legislative body (parliament) that is not functional as a result of our constitution because unlike the U.S.A., it is ONLY the Executive President who can initiate a bill or policy. In other words if the country is not functioning for lack of appropriate laws, we cannot blame the Parliament but the Executive President in power (Prof Atta Mills). The whole nation is now infested with various crimes (armed robbery/ car snatching etc) and land cases, and yet we all behave as if it is Christmas. The politics of reasoning and service has changed to greed and selfishness. Everything and anything that one does have to have direct links with one’s pocket other than the general good. It is about time our leaders remember that the world is a stage and we are all playing a part, we have a choice to render good services and be remembered by the whole society or enrich our deep pockets and be remembered by our family alone. We celebrate Dr Nkrumah today because of selfless devotion to our emancipation and we will do honor to others in due course. Our country is in serious crises and we need not open ourselves to people who are not tested in real life, they cannot serve the nation well because they do not have the requisites or anything worthy to share other than their own imaginations. Reality and fantasy are opposing doctrines. Ghana has serious problems and we need serious minded people to shepherd our nation to fruition. Let us put politics aside and discuss the issues in its right perspective because policy and power constitute a high stake game, and it is becoming evident that our politicians are taking us for a ride with lies and deception. The late Bob Marley once said that ‘when the rain falls, it doesn’t fall in one man’s house’. It is important for us as informed citizens do an honest assessment of our leaders or allow our brothers and sisters to wallow in deprivation. In retrospect, when is the government going to come out with the Right to Information Act? We need it. God bless our nation.
Eric k. Edusei, Va, USA