Recently, there were news reports from Nigeria that hundreds of people had died from lead poisoning – resulting from contamination caused by the mining of gold in parts of the north of that country. I am pretty sure that if anyone had tried to discourage them from mining gold in that part of Nigeria, both the victims and their families would not have taken kindly to it in the slightest – which is the exact reaction of the poor villagers employed by Solar Mining at Akim Abuakwa Juaso: who were interviewed only last week by Mr. Paa Kwesi Nduom’s Today newspaper. The neglect of our natural heritage by officialdom is really shameful. A case in point: My jaw dropped, when a few days ago, an official of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) coolly informed me that it was not my place to complain to him about Solar Mining Limited’s illegal operations at Akim Abuakwa Juaso: and should leave it to the owner of the concession to do so.
The question I would like that genius to answer, dear reader, is: Why should I, whose family has farmed in the area since 1921 (from the colonial era!), and knows the ecology of the area far better than he possibly ever can, and understands perfectly the potential harm posed to the area’s underground water-table by the activities of Solar Mining Limited, not have the right to complain to the state agency specifically set up to protect the natural environment: and thus ensure a good quality of life for all Ghanaian citizens? Why should I do as he says I should – and rather leave it to Kibi Goldfields, the very entity that Solar Mining Limited is in league with, to carry out its unlawful operations, to do so: simply because in his considered opinion, it is for the owner of the concession (Kibi Goldfields, i.e. – which I know perfectly well is insolvent!), not me, to complain about Solar Mining's illegal activities? With respect, that is pure nonsense on bamboo stilts. Have the two parties not craftily got Solar Mining Limited to more or less reverse into the insolvent Kibi Goldfields – a procedural sleight of hand designed to outwit the regulatory authorities?
No doubt, when the next international climate-change confab takes place in Mexico, officials of his ilk will scramble to attend it – and media folk who know perfectly well that there are many super-wealthy criminals engaged in illegal gold mining across our country, will also scramble to join those selfsame officials to travel to Mexico at hapless taxpayers’ expense. Yet, many of them do not give a damn about the continued degradation of our natural heritage – and the devastating effect it will have on future generations of Ghanaians: who at the very least, also deserve to enjoy the same standard of living enjoyed by Ghanaians today, if not better. I have often wondered, dear reader, if it never occurs to the "royal" folk at Ofori Panin Fie, that if they do not act to protect Akim Abuakwa Juaso’s natural environment, one day, out of desperation, someone will make a video-recording of Solar Mining’s illegal operations at Akim Abuakwa Juaso; and go on to film the scores of massive tree stumps left as a result of the rampant illegal logging by chainsaw operators working for the wealthy criminal-syndicates operating in the area (both inside the official government forest reserve and the P. E. Thompson Estate’s 14 sq. mile freehold private property); and send it to Clarence House: to get the English royals who live there, to ask the hard-of-hearing "royals" in Ofori Panin Fie to act quickly to end the perfidy of the wealthy criminals engaged in illegal gold mining and illegal logging in that area. Will they please wake up from their deep slumber – and act before they are finally branded as ace-hypocrites by environmental activists across the globe: who are working hard, day and night, to raise funds for climate-change mitigation projects in the continent hardest hit by this man-made threat to humankind’s very survival on planet Earth? A word to the wise…
Tel (powered by Tigo – the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109 & the not-so-hot and clueless Vodafone wireless smartfone: + 233 (0) 30 2976238.
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