Mineral Resources; A Blessing or A Curse ~ written by Mr Enoch Agyapong

Ghana is blessed with a lot of mineral resources especially Gold to the extent that it was initially called The Gold Coast.

I'm not a historian and will not try to write or rewrite any history but will move straight to my issue today.

Ghana has been mining Gold & other resources for over 100years and for all these years these activities were being streamlined & regulated.

Ashanti Gold now Anglogold in Obuasi have been the major mining company and Newmont in Akwatia have also been the major miners of Diamond.

Galamsey(illegal mining) have always been with us for all this century but have been under strict control making it quite insignificant.

Until a few years back when we started seeing Chinese nationals coming into the system in the name of exploration but eventually moving to a stage where mining is being done haphazardly all over the country leading to the indiscriminate pollution of our water bodies under the supervision of our governments.

Because mining was being controlled in the past we rarely had issues with regards to our environment but now that it's being done illegally by foreigners in collaboration with the locals and being supervised by politicians our entire waters and environment is in danger.

Studies have actually shown that Ghana may have to IMPORT WATER in the near future if nothing is done about this greedy quest to amass wealth through illegal & unregulated mining.

Such illegal mining activities do not affect only the environment but possess as huge security risk leading to sometimes civil wars, terrorism & Piracy.

What happens is that when these minerals and other resources fall into wrong hands it places monies into those individual POCKETS which gives them the options of building their own security by acquiring Arms illegally which indirectly gives them certain powers which if care is not taken leads to rebels such us Kwame Ato Asare rebelling against the system and if we have many of them then it results into rebellion against the government itself leading to a breakdown in security which sometimes leads to unbearable wars.

Seeing characters like Kwame Ato Asare collaborating with the police to the extent of bullying them is not a new phenomenon and that's one significant factor that lead to the Sierra Leon war yes those guys were called SOBELS(Soldiers by day, Rebels by night) just because they're also not satisfied with the system and also direct beneficiaries of such mining activities.

Therefore, keeping mining under strict regulations is a must and should never be compromised in any form whatsoever.

One major problem we also need to take a look at is how to make sure the indigenes in these mining areas benefit from these activities.

For instance how do fishing communities benefit from the oil being drilled in their enclave which sometimes pollute their waters making fishing impossible. How do we compensate such folks in order not to spite them.

In Mexico the Coca plant is one of their major resource and we have Drug Catel leaders like El Chapo who till date is a terror and a pain in the As* of the Government.

In Sierra Loen, Diamond played a major role in their over 10years civil war which saw a lot of Blood Diamonds being sold illegally.

Even our Neighbours in Nigeria is not having it easy in the Delta region where rebels are also in control of some of the oil resources which is also breeding excesses like Pirates which affects Neighbouring countries

Due to these Pirates operating in these regions majority of fishing vessels cannot go to work without having the Navy on board which adds to the cost of the Shipping companies even though it's safer but that's the extent these things can go when not controlled.

Indeed Mineral resources is a blessing only when it falls into good hands and we are all witnesses to how certain countries have benefited positively from these Minerals and also how devastating it has been to some countries when it fell into wrong hands.

We're a small country of a population of just over 30million and we need sensible leaders to manage these resources equitably to the benefit of all citizens in order not to throw the entire region into disarray.

We still have faith in our security system and we believe they'll flash out rebels like the Ato Asares and also streamline greedy politicians who wouldn't care to destroy our environment as long as it will fill their selfish and bottomless pockets.

Our Minerals is for Ghanaians and Not for Politicians so let these Resources benefit the Country as a whole and not some idiotic selfish Politicians.

Video by: Aljazeera