Former Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Henry Kokofu, has joined calls for the declaration of a state of emergency to address the worsening menace of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.
According to him, if government’s anti-galamsey campaign were yielding results, the positive impact would be evident in the state of Ghana’s water bodies.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Institute of Economic Affairs’ seminar on natural resource management, Mr. Kokofu stressed that the situation has reached a crisis point requiring urgent and decisive intervention.
“He who calls for the band must dance to their tunes. The current president called it, and so he must go ahead and do it. I am a natural resource person, and we are all seeing the menace and what is happening,” he said.
Mr. Kokofu further warned that the illegal mining scourge is crippling critical sectors of the economy.
“Agriculture is declining, the cocoa industry is also declining, and you have the fundamental commodity which sustains life — water — being polluted. So why wouldn’t you be alarmed or worried?” he added.
Debate over the possibility of declaring a state of emergency has intensified in recent weeks, after former President John Dramani Mahama indicated during a media engagement that the option could be explored if existing measures fail.
His comments have since sparked public reactions, with sections of civil society and communities affected by galamsey urging government to act more decisively against the destructive practice.
