Protesters carry placards throughout a protest demanding authorities motion on unlawful gold mining and the discharge of activist arrested on a earlier protest, in Accra on October 3, 2024. A whole bunch of Ghanaians, most of them college college students, protested on the streets of the capital metropolis Accra on October 3, 2024 to demand a right away halt to unlawful mining actions, recognized domestically as “galamsey”.
The demonstrators had been additionally demanding the discharge of 54 anti-galamsey protesters detained final month. (Picture by Nipah Dennis / AFP)
A whole bunch of Ghanaians, most of them college college students, protested on the streets of the capital metropolis Accra on Thursday to demand a right away halt to unlawful mining.
The demonstrators, who plan to stage rallies for 3 days, are additionally demanding the discharge of 54 activists detained final month for demonstrating towards unlawful mining.
The federal government’s dealing with of unlawful mining — notably its influence on pure sources and rural livelihoods — has change into a flashpoint challenge within the run-up to the West African nation’s presidential elections in December.
“If our leaders don’t take motion now, future generations can pay the value,” Delali Asante, a scholar on the College of Ghana, instructed AFP.
Chanting the Ghanaian nationwide anthem and singing patriotic songs, the protesters, draped in crimson and black apparel, danced by the streets of the capital.
Lots of the protesters displayed bottles of polluted water from the Pra and Birim rivers, two of the most important within the west African nation, to focus on the devastating environmental influence of unlawful mining.
Many Ghanaians rely upon the polluted rivers for day by day provide of ingesting water.
“Our water our bodies are being destroyed, and shortly we’ll don’t have anything left,” Asante stated. “We will’t drink gold, and we will’t develop crops on poisoned land”.
“We can’t sit by and watch as our rivers and water our bodies are poisoned with mercury,” stated protest chief Henry Tagoe. “Unlawful mining is destroying the environment and our future.”
Labour unions stated they may start a nationwide strike October 10 to pressure authorities to take pressing motion.
Protesters are additionally demanding the discharge of 54 members of the Democracy Hub strain group who had been arrested on September 22 and 23 for blocking roads and burning tyres, and remanded in custody for 2 weeks, prompting outrage from the general public and politicians.
Ghana, a rustic of 33 million individuals, is a significant gold and cocoa producer.
Since 2022 it has been fighting an financial disaster and rampant inflation which have led it to default on its international debt.
Financial woes have inspired a rising variety of cocoa producers to promote their lands to unlawful mining outfits.
Along with gobbling up agricultural land, unlawful mining, which makes use of chemical substances to extract the gold, has polluted rivers and water tables.
“We is not going to cease till we see actual change,” Tagoe vowed. “This isn’t nearly us. That is about defending Ghana’s future.”