The Upper and Middle-Class citizens in the country have been charged to get directly involved in the fight against illegal mining.
The Media Coalition Against Galamsey believes the middle-class citizens in the course of the fight have remained too silent suggesting that they are unconcerned about the menace threatening the existence of all.
Convener of the Coalition, Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey in an interview with The High Street Journal emphasized that the health, economic, and social impact of the menace which is currently getting out of hand does not discriminate. This he says requires all hands on deck to help deal with the situation.
The support of the middle class, Dr. Ashigbey says is needed to help mount pressure on the government to act urgently to halt the skyrocketing devastations.
“We need to deal with the crisis today and now. All Ghanaians, especially the middle class, you have been sitting on the fence for too long,” the convener of the coalition appealed.
He added that, “we all need to come together and put pressure on the president, government, and everybody that we should do the needful so that we will save ourselves from this calamity that we are in. It is not something that is before us, we are in already.”
Prior to this call for the support of middle-class citizens, the Coalition in addition to Organized Labor, some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) among others have demanded that a state of emergency must be declared on mining.
An ultimatum till the end of September has been given for the government to comply with the demand, failure to meet this demand, the groups have served notice to embark on a series of labor actions.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resource, George Mireku Duker has revealed that the government is planning on deploying river guards to protect devastating water bodies insisting that he is against the calls for a total ban on small-scale mining.
In the interim, an ad-hoc 5-member ministerial committee has been established by President Akufo-Addo to engage the various stakeholders on the government’s response to the crisis.
