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Galamsey Hits Manso Amenfi D/A Basic School Park

Manso Amenfi D/A Basic School in the Ashanti region has been hit with massive illegal mining (galamsey) activity.

According to report, the leaders of Amenfi have allegedly given permission to one contractor to distill a stream around the school. However, in doing so, the project needs funds. The contractor has therefore decided to do galamsey around the school park in order to finance the ongoing project.

Kofi Asare, who happens to be the president of EduWatch is calling on the Ghana Police Service and the MCE for the area to take immediate action to stop such illegal mining activity.

Galamsey is currently a pandemic in Ghana, especially in the Ashanti region. Galamsey is where individuals or groups of people who mine gold without any legal backing mostly in a reckless manner. Again, galamsey occurs in less developed areas, where it not only destroys the environment but also the people especially those that live near mines.

Water is one of the major sectors that have suffered the effects of galamsey. Gold panners usually stay close to rivers and streams in the search of gold using toxic substances such as mercury and cyanide to facilitate the process. These makes the water unsuitable for drinking, cooking and even farming activities. Strong evidence can be cited from Tano, Pra and Ankobra rivers which have been polluted as a result of galamsey. This has created a lot demand of clean water in most of the regions and due to it’s limited supply, people are resorting to expensive drinking water in glass bottles.

Even in the area of farming, just like water, crops are not spared. Cocoa trees and other crops are destroyed just to mine gold and other minerals. The government has placed several measures to stop these illegal activities but it seems to be getting worse each single day.