Let Us Save Remainder Of Akyem Abuakwa's Natural Heritage

One of the tragedies of our time,  is the destruction of so much of the natural heritage, of Akyem Abuakwa,  in Ghana's Eastern Region.

 Much of that destruction,  has occurred as a result of an unholy alliance, between a syndicate of wealthy rogues engaged in illegal gold mining (galamsey) and illegal logging, and a number of hypocritcal individuals amongst the progeny of the pre-colonial traditional ruling elites in the area.

 President Mahama surveyed the area from the air recently, when he flew from the Afram plains to Akyem Abuakwa,  in a Ghana Air Force helicopter. So shocked was the President,  by the environmental degradation he witnessed that he later told a public gathering at Kyebi that the area he saw from the air, had to be the galamsey capital of Ghana.

 Instead of being offended by the verbal description of  an unpleasant reality that confronts visitors to Akyem Abuakwa daily, today, those of us who love the upland evergreen rainforest in the Atewa Range, must accept that there has been massive degradation of the natural environment in Akyem Abuakwa - and that we must take active steps to repair that damage.

 We must also not forget that we are ranged against  powerful, cunning  and ruthless adversaries. An example of what we face is the outrageous story of how the clever  and dissembling promoters of Solar Mining Company bought respectability, and got away with the company's illegal mining activities, by reversing into a then bankrupt
Kibi Goldfields.

Kibi Goldfields is apparently owned by Ambassador Budu Saaka - who was  appointed as an ambassador by the late President Mills. 10 percent of its shareholding is said to be in the hands of the traditional authorities of Akyem Abuakwa. Such is the incestous nature of our byzantine system.

The question is: how did a bankrupt gold mining company hold on to its concession for so many years without it ever being cancelled and withdrawn - and has Kibi Goldfields paid its reclamation bond upfront since Solar Mining Company became a "co-operator" and revived it phoenix-like: and in such  carpetbagger fashion?

Kibi Goldfields' environmental impact assessment document, which Solar Mining Company submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the co-operating conspirators' behalf, is a study in garnished-mendacity and barefaced cheek, cooked up by gifted Kweku Ananse storytellers.

They presented its readers with a falsehood:  an airbrushed  picture of an  environment consisting largely of marginal land and badly degraded forests in which gold mining could be carried out in good conscience. Yet, the reality is that Kibi Goldfields is actually engaged in the rape of valuable  land in the forest-belt providing  vital ecosystem services for most of southern urban Ghana.

 And the destruction even extends to ecologically sensitive areas, with the designation Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GBSA) -  which hold the headwaters of three major river systems: the Birim, the Ayensu and the Densu. Those three important rivers provide the drinking water supply of many towns and cities across southern Ghana, including Accra, the nation's  capital.

Today, as we speak, Solar Mining Company's wealthy owners, who grew wings when the price of gold spiked to dizzying heights, are busy terrorising poor cocoa farmers in Saamang and its environs, who refuse to allow their farmlands to be taken over for gold mining - allegedly with the active connivance of district-level officialdom: threatening withdrawal of funding for local development projects if  they don't relent.

Luckily, their cause is being championed by the anti-mining NGO, WACAM, which has taken Solar Mining Company to court on their behalf, with legal assistance  from the Centre for Public Interest Law (CPIL).

Few in Ghana know the area as well as some of us do. And as someone whose family has owned a total of 14 square miles of a freehold parcel of upland evergreen forestland in the Atewa Range since 1921,  I do know for a fact that in as far as areas around the world that have the  designation Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA) are concerned, parts of Akyem Abuakwa could actually be described as global ecological-blackspots of wanton environmental degradation.  And it is of apocalyptic proportions, if truth be told.

 It is a pity that it never once occurred to the genuises in charge of media relations at the presidency, to organise a helicopter trip around Akyem Abuakwa for the Ghanaian  media, to enable them take aerial photographs and record video footage of the destruction wrought by the unfathomable greed that drives the selfish individuals whose ruthless  quest for gold has caused so much harm to Akyem Abuakwa's natural heritage.

It is only when that is done that Ghanaians will be able to decide the truth for themselves - after viewing the shocking aerial  photographs and video footage - about  the exact scale and egregious nature of the destruction caused by illegal  gold mining and illegal logging in Akyem Abuakwa.

 It is still not too late for that to be done, incidentally. The world must know the truth about the brutal gang-rape of Mother Nature in Akyem Abuakwa. It is only such openess that will shame the hypocrites profiting from what is an unspeakable and abominable  crime against humanity.

What those who object to the description of the area as the galamsey capital of Ghana need to understand, is that it is simply a call for action from all those who want to use the natural heritage of Akyem  Abuakwa to develop and grow a sustainable green economic alternative to the illegal gold mining and illegal logging that goes on daily in Akyem Abuakwa.

The Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest could become a national park and world-class eco-tourism destination providing valuable jobs and micro-entrepreneurial opportunities for thousands of local people - and serve as an important living laboratory for field-study trips by academic researchers from around the globe.

Let us focus on that goal - and at a time when global climate change is impacting our country negatively, work hard to save the remainder of Akyem Abuakwa's natural heritage. The Dutch government has promised to provide US$2 million to help turn the Atewa Forest Reserve and the slopes around it into a national park - if all mining is banned from the area.

The time to act is now. This is no time to be engaging in pointless shouting matches about the scale of the destruction wrought by illegal gold miners  and illegal loggers in Akyem  Abuakwa. The truth of the matter, is that the widespread environmental degradation caused by those funding the  galamsey operations  and illegal logging,  can be seen by all who visit the area - with the exception of the visually challenged. It is time we united to  save what is left of Akyem Abuakwa's natural heritage. A word to the wise...