Scientist commends president over galamsey war

Senior Scientist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Water Resources Institute, Accra, Dr. Anthony A Duah, has commended President Nana Akufo-Addo for effectively tackling illegal mining, also known as ‘galamsey’ in the country.

“This action is hard to believe because politicians since independence are interested only in protecting their votes rather than embarking on a journey which promotes national development,” he remarked.

Speaking at a public lecture by Knutsford University College in Accra on the theme, ‘KAITHAROS Technology: An Innovative Clean Water Filtration Technology,’ he mentioned that the President has shown commitment in this drive and the time has come for the majority of Ghanaians to join forces to fight the menace.

According to him, it was not prudent to destroy mineral wealth, forests and water bodies, among others, in the country.

“Natural resources, by their nature, depend on each other to thrive which means that whatever one does to one of the resources such as polluting water affects the rest directly,” he stated.

He said that the effects of indiscriminate destruction of these resources are greatly affecting water quality, destroying vegetation cover, which has resulted in climate change.

“Galamsey is an enemy of the land, killing farm lands, eliminating river beds and loss of aquatic life,” he remarked.

Prof Steve Opoku Duah of the Ohio Valley University, USA averred that the KATHAROS Technology is a cost-effective method to filtering water for domestic use.

According to him, the concerted effort is required to ensure that people enjoy good drinking water.

He explained that the process, which is currently under investigations in the USA, is also an alternative approach to the treatment of water using electrical energy.

The Professor said that plans were far advanced for the Ohio University in the USA to establish a regional assembly plant in Ghana or South Africa.

Ben Y.Ampomah, Executive Secretary, Water Resources Commission, Accra, said that before 1996, Ghana did not have any policy on Water Resources management which explains the difficulty in the regulation to get people to comply.

“Although drilling licenses for good water development in the country are being issued from time to time, regulators find it difficult, because there is no backing legislation among others to help the regulators,” he stated.

The President of Knutsford University College, Dr.Andrews BC Dadson, reiterated the call on Civil Society groups working for the improvement of the environment to intensify sensitization on the conservation of nature.