Dr. Bawumia, please excavators do not vote – Concerned Citizen

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia reportedly promised an Easter gathering in Kwahu that if elected president, his government will “not burn excavators” that are taken from galamsey operators, according to Joy News.

The present vice president is unfortunate to have such office. Since the government he is a member with stopped burning excavators a long time ago, the declaration is actually superfluous.

Even yet, the comment is significant, if only because it exhibits concerning “political body language,” while being clearly made to garner support during a time on the hustings.

Firstly, if the vice president has one, how has he used Nana Akufo Addo’s administration to convey it? Has he shown the President his respect by telling him that he disagrees with his Ashanti-Galamsey policy, which led to the burning of excavators? Or has he been a “Nicodemus” at Jubilee House, quietly undoing anti-galamsey policies that he finds objectionable?

You know, many people condemned the burning of excavators, which was, at its peak, a key instrument of the anti-Galamsey campaign. In many ways, I agree with Occupy Ghana’s goals, but I also strongly objected to the organization’s statement that the excavators’ seizure must adhere to the strictures of the law; that is, applications must be filed with the courts to authorize both the seizure and the disposal of the excavators.

My argument was this: using excavators in rivers and water bodies is one of the most brutal acts that can be inflicted on the sources of drinking water for all our people. The people who use excavators to dredge the water sources for sand and stones that are supposed to contain gold dust are aware of that, but their lust for good has made them insensitive to the physical harm they cause to our people’s health when they assault the water sources in such a ruthless manner.

I maintained that persons compelled to drink contaminated water are susceptible to diseases like cholera, bilharzia, and ecoli, among others, brought on by the water contaminated by their practices. I reminded Occupy Ghana that not everyone has the means to purchase a sachet of bottled water to drink. What about the water they need for cooking, even if they can afford to buy purified water to drink? for cleansing their bodies? for cleaning their apparel? (I inquired.) And for preparing the meals they consume.

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I argued that using the legal system to stop excavators being moved close to waterways was unrealistic. This is because even when excavators are caught and taken to police stations, they vanish before their owners can face legal action because to the severe corruption in our system of criminal prevention and prosecution!

I cited instances of cases where Task Force members had seized excavators and removed vital elements from them to disable them, only to come back and find that the owners had anticipated such disabling of excavators and obtained extra parts to replace those that would have been removed!.

I also made the point that our law enforcement system was either unable or unwilling to enforce the government’s orders prohibiting excavators from being brought near water sources, as evidenced by the owners’ ability to drive their vehicles past numerous police barriers before reaching their final destinations. Was it the intention of Occupy Ghana for our law enforcement forces to subvert the laws they are tasked with upholding?

(I inquired further). That, wasn’t it the start of anarchy?

I’m not sure if Dr. Bawumia heard my discussion with Occupy Ghana, but I can guarantee him that leading a nation where the strong and rich believe that laws are meant to be disobeyed won’t make him happy.

During the “prohibition era,” that occurred in the USA, and the repercussions affected American culture for many years. It occurred in Italy during the MAFIA era, when the country’s lawbreakers had grown so strong and vicious that many Italians found life intolerable. Society as a whole is in grave danger if individuals are free to select which laws to follow.

We have witnessed TV crews being physically attacked for documenting the destruction they inflict on our water bodies and forest reserves. We have witnessed galamseyers opening fire with weapons at individuals who attempt to prevent their activities. Often we hear of old people and children slipping into the water-filled craters left by the galamseyers when they abandon holes from which they have extracted gold.

Galamsey is wicked and poses an existential risk to future generations of Ghanaians. Please refrain from consoling those who engage in it, both verbally and physically.