A GNA CRITIQUE BY BOAKYE-DANKWA BOADI

Accra, March 6, GNA - Chairman Emeritus Professor Albert K. Fiadjoe and Commissioners of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) had taken pains to do a thorough job and as it appeared that everything was cruising to a successful end, then all of sudden a particular group decided to throw spokes into the wheel of a highly intellectual endeavour.

This group is no other than neo-colonialist agents that masquerade as the "Mining Lobby" in 54-year-old Ghana. Those Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, F= irst President of the Republic of Ghana, described as 93Akwasi ko nnso na wo gy= ina krotia" 96 to wit 93Akwasi (the Whiteman) is gone but is still loiterin= g at the outskirts".

These neo-colonialists agents came in with a bombshell - 93Ghana must allo= w underground mining in forest reserves". These smart Alecks have all of a sudden woken up to the reality that the Government of President John Evans Atta Mills would never sanction the destruction of the Nation's forest reserves through surface mining so they quickly put in their 93Plan B" -= if you will not allow surface mining what about underground mining?

It is strange that some Ghanaians can allow themselves to be used against generations yet unborn in this manner. The forest reserves have been demarcated because they are important watersheds for rivers in this dear country of ours and for any person to suggest that these reserves, which even the colonialist with all their greed spared, should be destroyed by 54-year-old independent Ghana; is baffling.

Those who made the proposal, one dares say, lacked sufficient knowledge. Their contribution is blight on an otherwise highly intellectual output fro= m the contributors to the Constitution Review Commission.

The Government of President Mills has stated as its policy: 93Ghana's Ag= enda for Shared Growth and Development (GASGAD) under 93Sustainable Natural Resources Management": 93The main goal is the integration of the princip= le of sustainable development into national development policies and programmes.

The policy objectives are: 93Maintain and enhance protected area systems- provide alternative livelihoods for local people to reduce pressure on land= s adjacent to protected areas and water bodies. Strengthen the legal framewor= k on protected areas 96 empower district Assemblies to enforce laws on bushfires and strengthen the law enforcement unit of the Wildlife Division.

The others are: Curb the loss of biodiversity by the intensification of saf= e and sound environmental practices and facilitate the development of relevan= t sector biodiversity policies."

In pursuance of this policy and its logical concomitance; the Government of President Mills has gone ahead to sign and has gazetted the 93Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Directive On The Harmonization Of Guiding Principles In The Mining Sector" to serve as a notice to Ghanaian= s of its existence and to inform them that steps are being taken toward makin= g it law in the country.

To protect the environment, the Directive has designated 93no go zones" for mining activities if such lands have environmental, social and cultural sensitivity (Article 4).

With all these, is it not strange that the neo-colonialists agents would still want to test the resolve of President Mills' Government that is so much committed to building a Better Ghana?

This Writer would like to ask the Mining Lobby a few questions. If underground mining is to be allowed in forest reserves where will the leaching ponds be built? Will they be built underground? Where will the environmental control dams be built? Where will the tailings be dumped? Wil= l they be dumped underground?

Thank God Emeritus Professor Fiadjoe was fast enough to notice the clandestine activities of the Mining Lobby, when in his concluding remarks he made reference to the 93Anvil", which set the heart of this Writer at ease, because he understood him to mean that the process is still at the forge and more work would be done on it.

This Writer has every cause to believe that the Constitution Review Commission will come out to declare 93forest reserves as no go zones for mining".

Our Elders say: 93Se wo di adwene de akyi a wo behwe Frau" 96 to wit "if one should follow the fact that fish is tasty, one would endeavour to drain all the water in the Volta River in order to get to the fishes".

If Ghanaians want to mine all the gold in Ghana, about 30 per cent of the country would be destroyed because the gold bearing reef stretches from the littoral all the way to Hamile in the Upper West Region and Shia and Nangonde in the Upper East Region. The only difference is that in some places it comes nearer the surface, while in other places it is deep underground.

Come to think of it. All that the White Guys, who come here as investors have to do is to go and convince managers of various pension plans in their countries that they have discovered that there is gold in Ghana and they should be provided with money to come down to take the gold for them and they are given huge amounts.

When they come and mine the gold they keep about 95 per cent of the amount they decide to declare for themselves, ostensibly to pay for the capital they claim to have invested and operational costs.

This Writer is of the view that now that we have oil, we should leave the gold for the meantime so that after we have made sufficient money we ourselves would have the capital to mine the gold. In that case we will kee= p everything for ourselves.

This Writer, being the son of a cocoa farmer, knows that some farmers first go into the cultivation of cassava or maize for sale to raise capital to go and purchase land to cultivate cocoa.

Please, let us for once think of future generations. Let us not forget that we have borrowed the land from our children and grandchildren, as environmentalists have been saying all along.