Eco-Conscious Citizens, led by Executive Director Awulah Serwaa, has issued a warning about the growing threat posed by heavily armed illegal mining cartels in Ghana.
Speaking on ABC In the Morning on October 23, 2024, she cautioned that failing to confront these groups could lead to a severe national security crisis.
“We now have National Security concerns where armed persons are misbehaving, but we don’t seem able to arrest them.
We don’t want Ghana to sink to the level of certain countries in Latin America where drug cartels control part of the country,” she stated.
Awulah Serwaa pointed out the government’s lack of real action in combating the galamsey menace.
“There is no real fight going on,” she remarked, highlighting specific incidents such as illegal mining activities poisoning the Atronsu stream in the Western North Region. Despite reports to regional authorities, she lamented that excavators continue to operate unchecked.
“In Atronsu in the Western North Region, illegal miners are poising the Atronsu stream as we speak now. excavators are there and they are working.”
“Its been reported to the Regional Minister, Police Commander and other authorities and its still going on.”
“If we are not serious about getting a task force which is going to repel illegal miners from our forest reserves and water bodies, we face a very serious national security threat,” Serwaa warned.
In a related development, Eco-Conscious, alongside the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), has condemned the brutal assault of an award-winning journalist known for his activism against illegal mining and all forms of environmental degradation, Erastus Asare Donkor and his colleagues during their assignment on illegal mining activities.
The organizations are calling for swift justice, urging the prosecution of the attackers and the suspension of Edelmetallum Mining Resources Limited’s operating license.
