Galamsey plunges Ghana into water crisis

The Minerals Commission has accused the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), Regional Security Councils (REGSEC) and District Security Councils (DISEC) for failing to clamp down on the activities of illegal miners, aka galamsey operators, thus leading to the destruction of water bodies in the country.

According to the Commission, per the Minerals Act, illegal mining is criminal and that it can only be fought successfully if the various MMDAs and their respective security apparatus up their game. In an interview with The Chronicle yesterday, Isaac Abraham -Public Relation Officer (PRO) of the Commission, bemoaned how illegal mining was affecting the fortunes of legally licensed mining companies and also polluting water bodies.

He told The Chronicle that the Commission legally cannot regulate the activities of these miners, as it was out of its purview, adding the responsibility to clamp down on these galamseyers was that of the REGSEC and DISEC. According to him, the ultimate responsibility rests with REGSEC and DISEC among the communities, where illegal mining occurs.

President John Mahama in 2013 set up the Inter-Ministerial Task Force Against Illegal Mining (Galamsey) to streamline the operations of the illegal miners in the country. The first phase of the operation saw the task force dismantling hundreds of illegal gold mining sites in the country and evicting thousands of illegal miners, including Chinese, from the sites.

The second phase was to spearhead a livelihood project, which would have involved registering of galamsey operators to reclaim devastated lands they had destroyed, through a well-crafted tree planting programme. Despite the fact that the taskforce managed to arrest and deport dozens of Chinese deeply involved in the act –the Commission through its PRO thought the taskforce failed to permanently clamp down on the menace.

“We need to talk more for the people to change their attitude, rather than always using security on them,” Abraham said, adding “ the national inter-ministerial taskforce was just an adhoc taskforce that was set up because of the magnitude of illegal mining at that time,” pulse.com.gh quoted Mr. Abraham as saying.

Illegal mining, otherwise known as galamsey, continues to wreck havoc on river bodies, plunging some parts of the country into acute water shortage –Nsawam and its environs being the hardest hit. Other places reeling under the crisis are Tamale, Cape Coast and about fifty communities in Asunafo South in the Brong Ahafo region and Atwima Mponua district of the Ashanti Region.

The severe water crisis distressing these places was blamed on years of illegal mining along the country’s major water bodies. Owing to the sternness of the situation in Nsawam, the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing called on the National Security and the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) to aid it (the Ministry) in its efforts to supply potable water to the affected communities.

Residents of Nsawam Adoagyiri for days have had no access to quality drinking water due to the drying up of the Densu River – an occurrence believed to be due to illegal mining activities along its bank. The Public Relation Officer of the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing, Abraham Otabil said through the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), “We have provided tanker services” to the communities affected to assuage the situation.

He said the ministry had also sought assistance from NADMO and the National Security to carry out the said exercise. According to the Water Resources Commission, water bodies in the country have deteriorated remarkably from 2010, due to the introduction of heavy machinery in mining on river beds.

Speaking Wednesday on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, hosted by Kwadjo Yankson, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Benard Ampomah opined that the continuous usage of these sophisticated machines have turned the water bodies into chalky streams that’s difficult to be treated by the GWCL.

According to him, the destruction of the water bodies had been a source of worry to his outfit since 2005, stating that the increasing pollution of these water bodies reached an alarming level in 2010. Expatriates, notably the Chinese, have been blamed for the increasing desecration of these water bodies and the forests in search of gold.

In spite of the belief that the dry season has led to the water crisis, it was also acknowledged that human activities along the edges of the Densu River, the main source of water supply to the Nsawam Head Works, had largely contributed to siltation in the river and the subsequent scarcity of water.

The Communications Manager of the GWCL, Stanley Martey, observed that the activities of illegal miners upstream had stalled the flow of water to the part of the Densu River that flowed through the water works.

He said the GWCL was making serious efforts through the adoption of several interventions, including the dredging of the river and damming the catchment areas close to the river to impound and retain rain water for constant supply of water to the head works, which has not been operating at full capacity because of the disastrously low water level.