Don’t treat Blue Water Guard Initiative as business as usual!!

 The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resourc­es, for that matter the government, has launched an initiative dubbed the Blue Water Guard to equip a number of the youth with the skills and knowl­edge necessary for adequate and timely protection of the coun­try’s water bodies, particularly rivers. (See lead story)

The initiative is said to be a module under Mahama administration’s Blue Water Initiative meant to rejuvenate the country’s water bodies that have suffered from the impact of illegal mining, otherwise known as galamsey, by cleaning and preserving them, ensuring they remain a vital, clean, and accessible resource for all com­munities.

Currently, one environmental challenge whose devastation is having a “lethal effect” on survival in the country is pollu­tion or degradation from illegal small-scale mining.

It will be recalled that the previous government, the Akufo-Addo administration, waged a war on galamsey for its detrimental effects, except that the war or fight could not defeat the galamseyers to stop the devastation their activity was having on water bodies and the general environment.

The situation is such that no political administration can look on unconcerned.

Therefore The Ghanaian Times welcomes the current govern­ment’s Blue Water River Guard initiative to fight galamsey.

Under the initiative, at least 2,000 Ghanaian youth are expected to receive the train­ing necessary to enable them to protect the country’s water bodies, particularly rivers, and ensure the restoration of their quality, which has been jeop­ardised by illegal mining activity.

The Ghana Navy Riverine Command is going to take young Ghanaian men and wom­en through rigorous training in swimming and other skills to make them able to deal with illegal mining operations in river bodies.

Is the use of weapons, in­cluding guns, part of the other skills?

Some so-called security experts say, for instance, that involving the military in the fight against galamsey would be chaotic.

By inference, what readi­ly comes to mind is that the experts are saying there must be no use of weapons in the fight against galamsey, and if this is truly the case, then the Blue Water River Guards are going to face a serious threat from galamseyers as they use sophis­ticated weapons to counter the war on them.

We think whereas the guards undertake their swimming and other skills to counter the galamseyers, there must be some air surveillance to protect the guards, including shootings to scare away the galamseyers or wound those who show impunity.

Galamseyers have been treated with kids’ gloves for too long a time that they and those behind them now need to face harsh dealings.

The truth is that the “Blue Water Initiative” cannot suc­ceed if the Blue Water Guard Initiative is treated as business as usual.

The threat of galamsey is a crisis that must be classified a national emergency and treated as such with all the force it deserves.

Meanwhile, The Ghanaian Times believes, as always, that chiefs, politicians and security personnel are the principal groups who can stop galamsey and things would not get to the crescendo to make it imperative to apply unexpected force to stop galamsey, if these groups genuinely commit to the fight.

Failure to win the fight would mean a few bad citizens and their foreign allies like the Chi­nese benefiting from galamsey, while undermining the survival of the larger Ghanaian society.