The comments. The sad expressions on the faces of many.

The Tears. Almost impossible to fathom what transpired a couple of days of ago.

I had only just posted an article on dealing with the menace on the Classfmonline portal when disaster struck.

That feature did find its way to a number of papers as well.

I could never had envisaged that just moments after, the nation would be hit by such a terrible disaster.

A NATION IN PAIN

In the twinkle of an eye, the nation lost eight outstanding individuals in that fatal helicopter crash.

Hon. Dr. Edward Kofi Omane Boamah, Minister for Defence, Hon. Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, Member of Parliament for Tamale Central and Minister for Environment and Science, Alhaji Limuna Muniru Mohammed, Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Dr. Samuel Sarpong, National Vice Chairman of the ruling NDC, Mr. Samuel Aboagye, Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flight Officer Manaen Twum Ampadu and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.

Just like that.

I cannot possibly ever forget the sad look on the faces of the government officials including the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, who rolled out the names at Jubilee House following the tragic accident.

The visibly shaken photos of President John Dramani Mahama would live in the memories of many for years to come.

There is no denying the fact that this has been extremely tough on the current administration.

These gentlemen were on their way to the launch of the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Program (rCOMSDEP) at the Obuasi Black Park in the Ashanti Region.

This was part of government’s broader strategy to formalize small-scale mining, promote responsible environmental practices, and empower mining communities through technical skills training and cooperative development. Sadly, we know what happened.

Multiple questions have arisen on the back of this very unfortunate incident. Key amongst this is what would be done to intensify the fight against the menace.

LEADERSHIP

The Commander in Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, HE The President, has all the power to literally tackle this issue head on. I, for one, cannot fathom, the rationale in not calling for a state of emergency.

We were in this country when key elements in the current administration pushed with some of the harshest vitriolic in opposition that this was the best way of dealing of the threat.

Nothing from the previous administration was acceptable to these elements at the time.

Fast forward a couple of months and it’s been literally grammatical expressions.

As for the repeal of laws that allowed mining in our forest reserves, the least said about that the better. We now have elements in government now pushing for a review instead of a repeal. Ridiculous and laughable, isn’t it?

PROPONENTS AGAINST A STATE OF EMERGENCY

The argument against this has been loud.

They argue that the nation generates incredible revenues from mining and shutting the sector would have huge repercussions on the financial front.

That revenues from the space have led to the stabilization with respect to the cedi-dollar conversation and the revenues the minerals generate for the state.

That for a country that is in dire need for funds to aid its developmental effort, we simply cannot bring mining to a halt.Granted that is the situation, are saying that we the wealth that accrues to the state is more important than human lives?

HEALTH IMPLICATIONS

The cyanide and the mercury that is used in the mining of gold percolates into the soil through water and ends up in the food we consume in Accra, which is hundreds of kilometers away from these areas.

  If we continue to consume food from these infested areas, only God knows what sicknesses majority of people would be contracting from years to come.

There have been reports of kids being born with all kinds of strange complications. Kids being born with six fingers and the elderly being infected with kidney and cancerous diseases.

The trickle-down effect of this is that in the coming years, the government is likely to have to significantly increase its health budget to deal with as many challenges on that front.

Funding that could have gone into other areas of need.

HUMAN LIVES

Again, it looks like an appreciation of human lives have been thrown to the dogs.

The Lord created fauna and flora for a reason. And then for we humans, we feed and live on this for survival.

We are contaminating our soils which is clearly affecting the flora. We are destroying our water bodies that the animals in the bushes get to feed on.

Then we humans consume both. There must be something wrong with us.

THE POLITICAL WILL

I wrote about the political will in my last write-up. What has happened to the call to fish out the political bigwigs involved in this country?

His Excellency President Mahama, then in opposition, was vociferous on that tangent. He was convinced that the bigger fishes owned the excavators and the chamfan machines.

That these big boys were the ones who could afford all the chemicals for the mining activities. Majority of the licenses from the Minerals Commission have ended up with top party boys and financiers for years.

How then do we clamp down on their activities when they have allegedly sponsored politicians into office? We are pretending to be fighting galamsey with all kinds of programs but it is only getting worse by the day.

THE MILITARY

There have been suggestions to have stationed officers and patrols in these galamsey areas to deal with the threat.

Is it not ridiculous that despite the numerous calls to get the Military to take over the operations, that call has barely been heeded to? Ignore those calls that it was done in the past but were barely effective.

How would these operations be effective when top officials who are deeply involved in this criminal act constantly interfere in their operations?

These criminals involved in illegal mining may not be killing us with the barrel of a gun but are gradually murdering all of us as we continue to drink from water bodies and eat from food sources from these areas.

How about dealing with them first before they kill of us? How about shooing to kill them first? How about that?

MR PRESIDENT

Mr President, you have got to shine your eyes.

It does not come across to me that as a nation, we are taking this seriously.

How is the state struggling to deal with galamsey with all the arsenal that is available to our security agencies?

I wonder what we would do if we are attacked by another country? It is a shame that we are battling with a menace that can be dealt with in the twinkle of an eye.

I dare say that the only reason why this shame is being perpetuated everyday is because the politicians are deeply involved in this.

Respectfully, I humbly ask that you go after them without fear or favour.

THE PRETENCE

Let us continue to jokingly pretend to be fighting this. Who are we kidding? I dare say we have not learnt any lessons from what transpired last week.

As a nation, we cannot allow the lives of these great men be extinguished painfully like this. We would have their blood on our hands if the authorities do not take decisive action to deal with the threat.

The programs that have been launched are good but are they delivering results?

Your guess is as good as mine.

 The writer is Kwame Dwomoh-Agyemang, Host of the Class Morning show on Class 91.3fm.