[“WE MUST KILL GALAMSEY BEFORE GALAMSEY KILLS US!”]
“When I stood on my own father’s farm at Asiakwa, which had once been the source of succulent cocoyam leaves (nkontommire); very sweet cassava (because the roots were watered by the underground table waters of the nearby Supong stream); extremely delicious bananas; a place where beautiful birds thrived and game could be caught in abundance
…….. when I saw this beautiful land turned into craters filled with greenish water with ridges around them that denied a foothold to all but careless idiots who wanted to drown;
……. when I saw a parcel of land at least four square miles in size turned into a completely irreclaimable wasteland; then it was that I realised we were living in a country that had turned itself into an unacknowledged lunatic asylum!”
[NBA comment; The artist has given the lady/mother a furrowed brow, cupped chin and a sphinx like gaze- an enigmatic gaze that perhaps speaks to her current severe distress and anxiety about the future. The marked frontal bossing and sparse hair of the child also hints at present challenges that will need to be tackled continuously. The sum total – clear and ever present danger, almost bordering on despair.]
“For how could humans with brains deliberately carry out such wanton acts of devastation against their own land, which has been made super-fertile by the Grace of God?
The enormity of the crime which has been committed, not only in places I have been but in other localities around the country where conscientious journalists have videoed and publicised worse scenes, pales into insignificance when juxtaposed against the indiscretions in high places that some of my fellow citizens are excited about.
Yes, those political lapses do matter.
But we take our eyes off the ball of galamsey at the risk of committing genocide– REPEAT GENOCIDE – against the generations that will follow us to dwell on this land 50 years hence or less.
An exaggeration, surely?
I sincerely wish it were.”
CAMERON DUODU
Group karma gonna bite us in the ……..
Those benefitting from such nonsense should be taught that.
They should read Arundhati Roy “The Cost of Living” – a good book.
India at one point kicked Coke out because they were ruining their waters, “Na Coke we go take cook?”
A very sobering testament; excellent piece!!
Beautiful article.
Thanks for highlighting this important issue.
We must all read Cameron Duodu’s article and act before it is too late.
The situation is unacceptable.
A group of us has already written to the President about illegal mining.