President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference, Most Rev. Philip Naameh, has bemoaned the failure of successive governments to stop illegal small-scale mining, otherwise known as galamsey.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra, Archbishop Naameh said that galamsey has, over the years, been destroying the land and water bodies in the country, and it is now threatening Ghana's survival.
He added that aside from the environmental destruction, the menace has led to many strange diseases in galamsey areas, killing many Ghanaians.
"For many years now, our sovereign country Ghana has been witnessing under our very naked eyes the saddest "environmental coup d'éta" ever unleashed upon our nation, heralding a programmed and complete "ecological disaster" or destruction.
"On our various pastoral and social visits to our people in their localities, as well as our many travels across the country, we see, denounce and cry over the wicked and greedy destruction of our forest resources. Cutting down cash crops on a massive scale, degrading our land (soils), and polluting our river and water bodies with mining chemicals like mercury, chlorine and cyanide, thereby killing aquatic life, including fish.
"Our eco-systems are being destroyed irreversibly: our soils are contaminated with poisonous chemicals, which are very difficult, if not impossible, to clean them up. Our people are drinking dangerously polluted water (some of our Mission Hospitals are recording increased strange)," he said.
Most Rev. Philip Naameh, who is also the Archbishop of Tamale, also said that the pollution of water bodies has particularly led to the high incidence and prevalence of Buruli ulcers in galamsey areas.
The Christian Council of Ghana organized the press conference on Monday, October 17, 2022.
The council, after deliberations, called on the government to immediately ban illegal small-scale mining.
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President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference, Most Rev. Philip Naameh