Do not allow mining companies to destroy Our Environment - Man of God Urges Residents

The Director of Governance, Justice and Peace Directorate at National Catholic Secretariat in Accra, Reverred Fr. Clement Kwasi Adjei, has charged residents in the various mining prone communities to demonstrate their watchdog roles in order not to allow the large and small scale mining operating companies to destroy their fertile farm- lands, water bodies and forest range reserves.

"I am calling on all the residents in the mining affected communities in this country to continue to play watchdog roles of ensuring that mining activities in their communities were beneficial to both investors and local communities," the man of God.

Consequently, Rev. Adjei asked the large and small scale mining companies engaged in the gold mining activities to do the right things to ensure that their operations do not cause damage to the farming lands, forest range reserves and water bodies.

Rev. Adjei who gave the call, urged the companies to strictly comply with the rules and regulations governing the mining sector in the country in line with government policy to promote responsible mining activities in the country.

Rev. Adjei made the call on Wednesday September 8, 2021—the final day of Wacam’s three-day 6th Annual Conference held at the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) Village in Ejisu Abankro near Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

The 6th annual conference, which coincides with Wacam’s 23rd anniversary, is on the theme: “Celebrating Wacam’s Mining Advocacy Achievements: The Role of Mining Communities.” 

The man of God commended the Wacam to continue to demonstrate its focus since its inception to impart knowledge to people in mining communities in the country.

This, he said, has given the leadership of the Wacam adequate knowledge to be able to stand and defend their rights in the wake of mining operations.

According to him, "We the faith based organisation has decided to join the Wacam’s advocacy work, because we had realized that the Wacam was able to impart a great deal of knowledge to mining communities which has empowered and built the confidence of people in mining communities in the country."
  
According to him, currently, the government has granted  to small scale miners to mine in the various mining communities, saying that although this could be a source of job creation for the people and revenue for the country, it also has implications for the environment.

He said while measures were in place to promote responsible mining, issues including pollution of water bodies, a threat to aquatic life, land degradation amongst others continued to be associated with the mining sector in the country, hence the call on the sector players in the country to do the right things.

"We have realised that small scale miners were happy of the damages their activities caused to our environment so in the sense, we are working closely with the some CSOs and Wacam to protect the country's environment from destruction by mining activities of both large and small scale miners, we are asking the company engaging in the minng activities in Ghana to do responsible mining," he stated.

"We have to change our negative mentality towards the destruction of the environment," he cautioned.

He added that, "We the faith based organisation collaborate with other relevant stakeholders such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Forestry Commission, Water Resources Commission amongst other institutions to ensure that they do the right things."

He added that, "We have our regulators all over. The laws state that they are to ensure responsible mining. So, once they start operations, we have various regulations in terms of how they should operate with regard to the safety, technical and environment."

He called on the Minerals Commission of Ghana and the state mining regulatory institutions not to hesitate to sanction any company found to engage in practices that do not correspond to the mining laws and regulations of the country.

He called for strategies to ensure that the country derived maximum benefits from the mining sector as well as empower the citizenry to play lead roles in the sector.

Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu