Dilemma of endowments

The chicken liver is a delicacy we eagerly reach out for when we prepare fowl for food. But the location of the liver among the internal organs makes it a risky target, because positioned right on the liver is the bile.

Poisonous bile

The chicken bile is useful for carrying away waste products discharged by the liver; and it breaks down fats, cholesterol and salts. But the bile is toxic and poisonous for human consumption.

So the Akan proverb says, “Beware, for the bile lies beside the liver.” In other words, be careful how you consume delicacies, because inherent in those goodies is a poisonous substance that can harm you.

That is how I describe the gold that God has endowed this country with. The gold is desirable, but the irresponsible acquisition of it is like the poisonous bile.

For centuries, gold has adorned kings’ regalia and palaces, enriched colonial traders and local business people and beautified objects and artefacts.

Gold has served this country as a source of livelihood for millions of otherwise jobless citizens. It has financed remittances to deprived families, funded infrastructural developments in rural areas and ensured that food is placed on the dining table for hungry households.
So, without doubt, gold is God’s endowment for Ghana.

Deadly enterprise

But inherent in this delicacy is a deadly enterprise, a lethal health hazard and a sad story for today and for posterity. We will wake up one day and be forced to answer the question: Was gold a blessing or a curse?

From what health personnel, water producers and agriculturists are telling us, and from the reports we are receiving from the mining communities, the reckless mining of the mineral is preparing to unleash on us an epidemic that will surpass past outbreaks we’ve encountered in this country. In fact, it has already begun.

Corrupted galamsey

We are told that galamsey is a corrupted term for what used to be simply, “gather and sell.”  Apparently, it is not only the name that is corrupted but even the procedure for obtaining the mineral is far more corrupted!

As a “gather and sell” venture, gold could be literally collected from shallow streams or rivulets and sold for cash. The mineral was mined harmlessly in narrow dugouts, backyard trenches and small ditches using hoes and pick-axes.  And it didn’t attract large numbers of people.

Today, however, the scenario is completely different.  “Galamsey” mining has become a big-time pursuit involving the use of huge earth-moving machinery.

These machines include caterpillars that clear virgin forests, excavators that haul soil to create large pits, chanfans that dredge river beds and explosives that blast rocks. And it involves millions of people.

So, instead of the biblical instruction to “till the land” (Genesis 2:15), which means to “cultivate and care for it,” the miners are rather destroying the land, forests, farms and water bodies.

Serious dilemma

Now we are in a serious dilemma. How do we handle a situation that is, on one hand, a source of livelihood for people, and, on the other hand, a deadly weapon against our very existence?

We are even in an awkward and complex situation, and this quagmire involves definitions. What is galamsey and what is small-scale mining?

Who is a licensed miner and who is unlicensed? Who is supposed to be prospecting only and who is actually mining?

But how does any of these terms matter to us if the environment is being destroyed?

To give a license to a miner and expect that he is angelic enough to abide by the rules of the license is to fail to understand the corrupt nature of humanity.

He will hold the license in one hand and dredge the river bed with the other hand if he knows there is more gold under the river than on the hills where his concession is located—damn the consequences!

How do we ascertain who is a galamsayer and who is not? To trust a licensed miner to do the right thing in the forest on the blind side of those who issued the license is to forget the greed of humanity.

Role of greed

In fact, greed, which is at the core of most human problems, is the evil force driving galamsey. Granted that the frontline workers who soil themselves in the muddy waters in search of gold are deprived and are genuinely seeking employment, we cannot say the same for the kingpins.

For the kingpins, greed is the driving force of their activity. They are already the filthy rich owners of the heavy machinery used in the mass destruction, but they want more.

Next week: The good Lord willing, when we return to this dicey matter next week, we will explore other aspects of it, including the fact that this galamsey menace is plunging us into a war of attrition.