On World Water Day Should President Akufo-Addo Boldly Commit To Banning Mining In The Atewa Range - And Declare It A National Park?

Tomorrow - 22/3/2018 - is World Water Day. In light of that, one hopes and prays that the nationwide celebrations to mark  the day, will inspire Ghana's present leaders  to take all the necessary steps needed to ensure that freshwater sources will still be available for use by future generations of our people, by conserving our remaining forest reserves.

In that regard, it is most unfortunate that some people in Ghana are comfortable with stating publicly - and  in casual fashion - that as a people we might have to import water someday. Yet, that need not be the case if bold and draconian steps to halt the destruction of the forests that contain the headwaters of our major river systems are taken by the present government.

The question we ought to pose to those who talk such pure nonsense on stilts  is: Import water, at what cost, from where - and, knowing the slapdash manner in which we handle such matters,  just  how hygienic will the whole sodden value-chain-processes be, each time consignments of water are imported into Ghana? Haaba.

Above all, in the matter of allowing Chinese companies to mine bauxite in the Atewa Range, the government of President  Akufo-Addo ought to be guided by how the Chinese partners of the Sonun Asogli Power Company, quietly shelved their plan to build a coal-fired power plant  in Ghana, when faced with unrelenting opposition by environmental activists in Ghana.

With respect, knowing the apocalyptic consequences of aIlowing miners to destroy the Atewa Range - a designated Globally Significant Biodiversity Area - is it not foolish in the extreme to continue insisting on mining its low-grade bauxite as raw material for an integrated  aluminium industry in Ghana?

For that reason, on World Water Day,  concerned environmentalists across the globe, will pray that  President Akufo-Addo will show his commitment to the UN SDGs and commit to protecting the Atewa Range, by declaring it a national park on which a new green economy for Akyem Abuakwa will be anchored. That alone will guarantee him a place in the Pantheon of Africa's greatest leaders.