I do not want to be tagged as a blithe doomsayer, but as it stands at the moment, and no serious attempts to curb the illegal activities of the recalcitrant illegal Chinese immigrants in our rural areas, we are, of course, heading towards a gargantuan environmental catastrophe.

After fifty nine years of independence, you would expect a nation like Ghana to be in contention with the likes of South Korea ,Malaysia, Singapore etc. But, due to the apparent leadership paralysis, we are at where we are today.

We are surrounded by individuals we may call leaders, but in actual fact, they don’t provide true leadership. For they have failed time and time again to provide the needed urgency and vision.

Dearest reader, let me crave your indulgence just a moment longer to pose: Which independent country on this planet (Earth) would sit idly, while some obstreperous illegal immigrants fecklessly despoil its natural resources?

The answer is Ghana!

How could we look on unperturbed and allow illegal Chinese immigrants to seize our rural areas, and forcibly dig our gold, destroy the environment and above all terrorise the rural dwellers? Where is the paradigmatic leadership?

However liberal they would want to portray to the Chinese authorities and the whole world, the leadership should not allow the lunatic fringe of illegal Chinese immigrants to presume on our hospitability, because after all, they presumed to invite themselves to Ghana.

Interestingly, my checks have revealed serious breaches in the mining concessions. According to credible sources, some Ghanaians are acting as middlemen. They would manage to procure the mining concessions and then pass them over to the Chinese miners.

Unfortunately, however, no one seems to be policing the illegal activities of the Chinese immigrants.

It is also worth noting that the small scale mining operation is capital intensive, and it thus explains why Ghanaians, who do not have the upfront capital, albeit manage to secure the mining concessions end up passing such concessions to their Chinese minions.

And, the unconcerned Chinese end up violating the laws which govern the small scale mining. So, my question again is: Why is it that the regulator (the Ghana Minerals Commission) not keeping a close eye on the illegal activities of the Chinese, many of whom are bent on destroying the environment?

However the lack of supervision, the Chinese and their sympathisers should neither take the hospitability of discerning Ghanaians as a sign of weakness nor assume that their activities are not harming our environment.

The leadership must not also lose sight of the fact that Communist China will never buy such impishness from its own nationals, let alone immigrants. For it is only a supposedly democratic Ghana where Chinese illegal immigrants can flout the laws of the land without facing any comeuppance.

As a nation, we cannot and must not stand aside and watch while foreign invaders are heedlessly seizing our rural areas, digging our mineral resources forcibly, terrorising the rural dwellers and destroying their livelihoods. How bizarre?

Tell me, how long shall we continue to show blithe ignorance to the seriousness of the Chinese illegal activities in our rural areas?

The Chinese menace is real, and it is incumbent on the leadership of Ghana to take a leading role in combating such menace, and cease approaching it blithesomely.

Why do we need leadership in Ghana if it cannot hold in high esteem the heritage won for us through the blood and toil of our Forefathers?

You lots have pledged to uphold and defend the good name of Ghana, so show it, and stop behaving as mirthful leaders.

Go on and act now, because procrastination is not the solution to a potential problem.

K. Badu, UK.