Dear Organised Labour,
I write to first thank you
for waking up from your sleep after so many years of allowing the politicians
to have their way. Your recent campaign against the sale of SSNIT hotels shows
that your failure to act when it matters makes you accomplices of the political
crimes Ghanaians have been subjected to over the years.
I am writing to you about
your recent threat to strike on October 10 if the government doesn't stop the
illegal mining activities. These are my observations and humble request:
1. This is a political
season, and the government does not want to touch the issue of illegal mining
for fear of losing votes to the opposition NDC. The government values the votes
of illegal miners more than the lives they are destroying by polluting water
bodies, depleting forest reserves and erasing farmlands from the surface of the
earth.
2. I am not that old but
I've lived long enough to remember when Akufo-Addo had hair on his head. I also
lived through the Mahama era as a journalist. I can say that the NDC does not
deserve any political advantage from the "galamsey" fight. In the
Mahama era, the government failed to fight galamsey. In fact, when the fight
was gaining momentum, the government withdrew the security personnel and it
went from bad to worse. That's why Akufo-Addo was confronted with the menace as
soon as he took power in 2017. Galamsey didn't start in 2017.
3. If the NDC government
under Mahama failed to fight illegal mining, Akufo-Addo's administration
legalised it. In addition to the law that allowed politicians and cronies of
the Akufo-Addo administration to mine in forest reserves, the government indiscriminately
issued licenses to dubious persons and companies to undertake so-called
small-scale mining, which is galamsey in reality.
4. These licensed
small-scale miners are not different from the galamsey operators. In some
cases, they are worse because they have the resources to buy heavy equipment,
and their scale of destruction has been massive. The institutions of state that
are supposed to supervise and ensure that they comply with best practices have
turned away and allowed the politicians to have their way with our forests and
water bodies.
5. I have seen many
politicians in the governing party say that the government will not heed your
call to tackle the issue of illegal mining. Some have annoyingly said that
banning or suspending mining will not solve the problem. Others have also
attributed your fight to instigation by the opposition NDC as if you are
dimwits who cannot reason for yourself, who cannot see the photos and videos of
polluted rivers and destroyed farmlands. The latest I have heard is a plea from
the president that you reconsider your intention to strike.
6. My humble appeal to you
is this: you will be letting those of us who have started to believe in you
down if you fail to act on galamsey. Ours is not a democracy. We only queue to
elect some people and empower them to do whatever they want without consequences.
If, for the first time, you have the power to call the politicians to order and
you fail, history will not remember you kindly. Some are even alleging that
your ranks have been compromised. Don't let your nation down.
7. I have said that the
NDC does not deserve the political advantage of your strike or the government's
actions on galamsey at this crucial moment, but political considerations should
not stop you from acting decisively to save our nation and its water bodies.
Politics should not stop you from doing what is right. Besides, labour
agitations have always benefitted one political party or the other. When your
agitations caused sitting President Mahama to declare himself a "dead
goat," it became the NPP's slogan in the next election.
8. The most essential
point to consider if you're worried about the political implications of your
action should be this: the illegal mining menace did not begin in the election
year of 2024. There were agitations as far back as 2017 from the Media Coalition
Against Illegal Mining. If the government has refused or failed to resolve the
problem, then you should not care about the political effect of your actions on
that governing party. If Akufo-Addo had resolved the problem, his people would
not have been here talking about the political risks of acting now. We should
not allow the government to prioritise votes over our survival as a nation.
9. The government does not
want to touch the illegal miners because it fears losing the next election.
Yours is to show the government that if hospitals, schools and key sectors of
the economy stop working from now until December 7, the government cannot win
the election. So Akufo-Addo should choose between solving galamsey and risking
the election or allowing your strike and risking the election.
10. The promise to revoke
the LI that allowed mining in forest reserves is not good enough. The forest
reserves have already been defiled, and some have been depleted. And the legal
process will drag on until after the election. YOU MUST STRIKE WHILE THE IRON
IS STILL HOT. They won't listen to you after December 7.
11. Insist on the
suspension of all mining activities, except the large-scale miners like
Newmont, and AngloGold, which are complying with international best practices
and not polluting the waters, farmlands and forests. If you have evidence that
a large-scale mining company is involved in a galamsey-like operation, it must
be added to your list.
12. Your fight should not
stop after the election. Some of us have very little trust in the opposition
NDC's resolve to fight the menace. Some of their members are patiently waiting
for their turn to get the licenses and go into the forests to cause the havoc
we face now. Demand commitments from all the candidates going into the election
and hold the balls of whoever wins on December 7 to address this deadly
problem.
Finally, I want to
congratulate your leadership and let you know that Ghanaians are watching
keenly. You have a unique opportunity to bring some semblance of sanity back to
a nation ruined by greed and stupidity. They have resorted to targeting
protestors and silencing voices of dissent. You are our last resort in this
quagmire of hopelessness.
Do not fail us, TUC.
Yours sincerely,
Manasseh Azure.
Source: Manasseh Azure
Credit: 87solutions.blogspot.com
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