The Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osafo Maafo, has attributed part of the escalating pollution of rivers in the country due to illegal mining to traditional leaders.
Osafo Maafo expressed his concern, noting that in some instances, chiefs in regions where illegal mining, commonly referred to as “galamsey,” is prevalent, grant access to miners who subsequently contaminate water bodies to an irreparable extent.
These remarks were made by Yaw Osafo Maafo during his address at the 23rd General Meeting of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana held in Kwahu Abetifi, Eastern Region.
“Look at what galamsey is doing to the land, and should we allow monies that a few people want to make to destroy the very base of water that we need to drink? There are areas where you cannot even purify the water and where you can, we are spending more than three times what we used to spend in purification and all this is happening in the direct face of our chiefs that gave the land for the galamsey.”
Additionally, he voiced his apprehension regarding the increasing issue of corruption, despite the significant Christian population in Ghana.
“If 72 percent of us are Christians and corruption begins to grow from bad to worse, then there is something wrong with even the message that we give to this 72 percent of the population. We need to do some retrospection and as a country, together with the government, take certain actions to redeem the country from corruption and can’t just keep talking about corruption without doing anything about it.”