It is heartening to hear that the Ghanaian media is finally uniting to fight the existential threat posed to present and future generations of our people by illegal gold mining.
That is as it should be. Kudos to all of them.
Indeed, those in the Ghanaian media world who are making personal commitments to do all they can to halt that abomination deserve to be commended by society for their bravery.
Unquestionably, there will be times when their lives will be endangered in investigating particularly egregious cases of pollution and environmental degradation caused by illegal gold mining, across the nation.
The menace that iIlegal gold mining represents is a hydra-headed monster - one that is incredibly cunning, super-ruthless, relentless and very well-connected.
Clearly, in confronting this hydra-headed monster, the Ghanaian media must put aside: unprofessional and unethical conduct; mean-spirited partisanship; individual rivalry; envy and angling for awards; and the unacceptable nest-feathering that characterises much of the work of journalists and media houses in our nation's media world - if it ever hopes to defeat this clear and present danger to the very existence of tens of millions of our people. Today. Not tomorrow.
Above all, this is a fight that must never be regarded by any Ghanaian journalist as an opportunity to benefit from "soli" and should not be seen by media houses as a golden opportunity to profit from endless grants to organise workshops.
Finally, this is a fight that calls for journalists in Ghana to be professional in their work and demand accountability from powerful and wealthy individuals in the highest reaches of Ghanaian society, from regulatory bodies such as the Minerals Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Water Resources Commission, as well as from the security agencies.
This is strictly sacrificial work for the common weal. 'Soli" does not come into it. Definitely not. Full stop.
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