Ghana’s Catholic Bishops Conference on Friday urged President John Dramani Mahama to take “decisive and transparent action” against illegal mining.
They have warned that the country faces a public health and human rights emergency if mercury and heavy metal contamination continues unchecked.
The appeal came hours after Mahama met civil society organisations (CSOs) at the Jubilee House in Accra to discuss the escalating toll of small-scale mining, known locally as galamsey, on rivers, farmlands and communities.
“The recent Mercury and Heavy Metals Impact Assessment presents an alarming and irrefutable picture: Ghana is poisoning its own life-support systems,” the Bishops said in a statement signed by Conference president Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi.
The Church called for prosecutions of illegal mining kingpins, the establishment of fast-track courts, and protection for communities resisting galamsey.
It said credibility, not just policy, would determine whether Ghanaians believed in the government’s response.
Mahama has faced mounting pressure in recent weeks over how to curb illegal mining, which has displaced farmers, polluted major rivers and exposed children to toxic substances.
While he has resisted calls to declare a state of emergency, the President told CSOs on Friday that his government would intensify enforcement and strengthen collaboration with traditional leaders.
The Bishops said the Catholic Church, through its schools, hospitals and parishes, was ready to help mobilise communities and raise awareness.
But they warned that failure to act decisively risked “complicity in what is fast becoming an ecocidal tragedy of monumental proportions.”
Source: asaaseradio.com
