The menace of illegal mining, known as galamsey, has pushed Ghana into a state of what MP Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings has called “chemical warfare on an unprecedented scale.”
The Klottey Korle legislator, in a LinkedIn post, expressed her deep concerns over the impact of galamsey on Ghana’s natural resources, public health, and governance.
“I am haunted by the horrible images of the destruction to our water bodies and forests by galamsey. What we are seeing is the tip of the iceberg,” Dr Agyeman-Rawlings wrote, highlighting the ecological and public health crisis that illegal mining has caused across the country.
She suggested that if the Ghana Standards Authority were to test the country’s water bodies, both surface and underground, and report on the levels of toxins, the nation might come to fully appreciate the depth of the devastation.
“That includes borehole water!” she said, adding that galamsey is creating widespread environmental contamination that will have long-lasting consequences for all Ghanaians.
In her impassioned article, Dr Agyeman-Rawlings described the situation as “outright chemical warfare on an unprecedented scale,” stressing the horror of such destruction in a peaceful and democratic nation. “It is shameful, actually,” she added.
Pointing to the tangible impact on public health, Dr Agyeman-Rawlings warned of the alarming rise in kidney failure, cancers, infant mortality, birth defects, and water shortages.
She asked, “Are we waiting for famine in the midst of poisoned plenty before we realise the urgency with which we must address this?”
