Mr Kojo Owusu who has worked on galamsey pits for many years has appealed to Ghanaians to support the president on the fight against galamsey to save the agriculture sector and the water bodies.
Narrating his experience to Rite Morning Ride hosted by Austin Ofori Addo, has admonished various institutions and the general public working towards ending the sickening canker of illegal mining in the country to do so devoid of blame game.
“Let us stop the blame game and look at ways in which we can all deal with the situation. We need concerted efforts in dealing with the practice which is a threat to the environment especially our water bodies”, he disclosed.
According to him, mining remains one of the sectors that gives income and foreign exchange translating to increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and therefore there is the need to regulate the sector
“government is not fighting against mining but rather galamsey; I want all of us to know the difference. Mining remains one sector that has helped the economy of the country and it is leading in GDP and foreign exchange. It is a natural resource God gave us but we must use sense in extracting the gold to help us. Government is not abolishing the project. Mining that is degrading the land and destroying water bodies risks the future of the generation. It is important to note that the fight against galamsey is not to deliberately put people out of jobs”, he emphasized
Further called on all traditional leaders to step up their game against illegal mining.
Narrating his story on Rite Fms Morning Show, Mr Owusu said after struggling for months inside a galamsey pit to make ends meet, he ended up wasting all the money he acquired.
Explaining how he spent the monies he acquired from the galamsey, Kojo Owusu he said he has wasted hundreds of thousands of Ghana cedis earned from galamsey activities.
“I have been working in galamsey pits for many years and trust me when I say it’s very deadly to be in such pits. I saw some friends of mine die before my own eyes. And as unwise as I was, all the money I got months after working underground was spent on alcohol intake and chasing after women,” he said.
According to him, at age 27 he had earned so much from his galamsey activities to the extent that he even constructed his own galamsey pit and hired persons to work for him at Obuasi.
“I really got money but I had no one to advise me and although a school drop-out, I was seeing some friends of mine through school by paying their tuition fees. Before I realised, all my money had finished, I had squandered all my money without using it for anything meaningful,”
“People kill or sacrifices human beings especially children to get more gold, we visited several spiritual men for powers so nobody should think that galamsey is done without working on it spiritually” he said.
He again advised politicians to desist from fuelling the galamsey fight.
By: Austin Ofori Addo/ritefmonline.org
