It is extraordinary that at a time of global climate change, an important part of Ghana's cultural heritage, the historic town of Elmina, can be put at risk in such brazen fashion, by illegal gold miners - and with complete impunity, too.
Elmina is a town blessed with a rich history. Its famous castle has been designated a World Heritage Site. Indeed, Elmina Castle is the centrepiece of what is one of Ghana's foremost community-based eco-tourism destinations.
Luckily, it is an industry that is sustainable - and for many years, has actually helped preserve the rich culture of the people of Elmina. The financial benefits of tourism, has also provided them with an incentive, to preserve the lagoon - an important water body, which is a vital part of the ecology of that coastal environment.
The annual regatta that takes place on the lagoon, is an integral part of the Bakatue festival of the people of Elmina. Indeed it is one of the most spectacular festival sights to behold, in all of sub-Saharan Africa.
Alas, it appears that the curse of gold may end up destroying the very ancient town of Elmina, including its famous castle. If what is happening in Akim Abuakwa is allowed to occur in Elmina too, with officialdom unable to act decisively to halt the illegal gold mining, that historical town, may indeed end up eventually being swept away by the sea - if the madness that has gripped so many of its people isn't halted immediately.
That highly infectious form of quick-money madness, illegal gold mining, is now rumoured to be apparently going on surreptitiously, under cover of darkness, along the beaches of Elmina, and elsewhere in the general area.
Unfortunately, it may very well spread along our nation's entire coastline, if officialdom does not react quickly to this dangerous new development, by stamping it out - with brute force, if necessary: if that is what it takes to stop this unfathomable-greed-virus, from becoming a pandemic.
At a time of global climate change, when tidal waves now occur in places that they had hitherto never been experienced, it will be the height of folly, to allow the destruction that gold mining leaves in its wake, to take place anywhere along our coastline.
A friend once recounted to me, the frightening sight, of part of a cliff being broken up and swallowed by the sea, as he was driving to Takoradi. Our coastline is frequently seeing the impact of global climate in such barely-noticed tragedies - and it is important that we do not allow illegal activities to compound this threat to the survival of the many poor communities along our coast.
One therefore hopes that officialdom will have the wisdom, and above all, the courage, to prohibit all gold mining in Elmina - or, as sure as night follows day, having sown the figurative wind (of severe degradation of nature), we will end up reaping the ferocious (environmental) whirlwind, which global climate change now unleashes with such frequency, right across the globe: and with such tragic consequences. A word to the wise...
Tel (Powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
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