Eco-Conscious Citizens Press Release
Jan. 9 2025
Open Letter To President Mahama: New Government, But Environmentalists’ Demands Still The Same
Congratulations Mr. President on your election victory and the overwhelming mandate Ghanaians have given you.
Our thanks too for an inauguration ceremony which featured the best of Ghanaian culture and made us proud.
Ghanaians will continue to support you so long as they see you putting Ghana first.
It is noted that you plan to reset Ghana and introduce a 24-hour economy. I am sure you will agree that to do this you need a healthy environment and workforce.
We currently face an existential threat as a consequence of ecocide from illegal mining. Polluted water bodies, ravaged farms and a compromised food chain are of great concern.
Our forest reserves continue to be decimated, and our water bodies and soil are being poisoned. As a consequence, there is a rise in kidney disease, cancers, neurological challenges, maternal deaths, still births, and deformed babies especially in so called Galamsey areas.
Our food chain has been compromised, cocoa farms destroyed, and over 2 million peasant farmers are at risk of losing their livelihool. In addition, there are national security concerns from the prevailing lawlessness of the illegal miners and their security personnel.
It is important that the canker of illegal mining is addressed as a matter of urgency.
A healthy nation will benefit from useful reforms, but an ailing, poisoned population in need of dialysis machines cannot provide a healthy, reliable workforce, and will be a strain on the health budget.
Environmental CSOs urge you as a matter of urgency to:
1. Declare a state of emergency (or issue an executive order) and remove all mining equipment and miners from our forest reserves and water bodies, and stop issuing licenses to mine in forest reserves.
2. Repeal L.I. 2462 and E.I. 144.
3. Pause small scale/community mining.
4. Investigate all those named in Prof. Frimpong Boateng’s report.
The Polluter Pays Policy must be upheld, to ensure that the private wealth created by poisoning us and destroying Ghana is used to clean up the mess.
Finally, we would like to use this opportunity to urge you to consider transforming the National Cathedral grounds at Ridge, which has been described as “the world’s most expensive hole”, to Accra Central Park and cause trees to be planted there, as part of your Tree For Life initiative.
We wish you well and hope you will use your clear majority to reset Ghana for a healthy environment, devoid of the ravages of illegal mining.
Awula Serwah
Eco-Conscious Citizens
Founder/executive director
EcoConsciousCitizens@gmail.com
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