KEY POINTS
- Cardinal Turkson criticized the government for failing to stop illegal mining.
- He warned that unsustainable mining practices harm agriculture and the economy.
- He emphasized Nkrumah’s vision of preserving farmland while mining underground.
Prominent Ghanaian cleric and Vatican official Peter Appiah Turkson has expressed worry about the economic and environmental effects of illegal mining, or galamsey, and has criticised the government for failing to address it.
Illegal mining endangers Ghana’s future economy and environment
Cardinal Turkson emphasised the harm galamsey operations have brought to Ghana’s forests and waterways when speaking on TV3’s The Big Issue. He cautioned that if the harmful practice carries on unchecked, it could jeopardise the country’s economic future.
He declared, “To put it bluntly, the status quo will push us towards a failed state.” “Mining, agriculture, and cocoa production have been the main drivers of our economy. We are going to hit a breaking point if we continue mining in this manner.
According to a report by MyJoyOnline, Cardinal Turkson criticised the damage that modern mining operations cause to the environment and underlined how unsustainable they are. In addition to taking minerals, he claimed, “we’re also destroying surface vegetation, depleting topsoil, and leaving behind dangerous open pits.”
Nkrumah’s sustainable mining vision lost to destructive practices
Citing Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, the cardinal pointed out that Nkrumah’s mining policy encouraged sustainable methods by supporting underground mining to protect the soil for agriculture. For us to feed ourselves, Nkrumah advised miners to descend for minerals while preserving the surface for crops. That knowledge is gone. “At this point, we eliminate the vegetation, remove the topsoil, and retain the potholes,” he stated. “In my view, Nkrumah’s vision was far more correct than what we see today.”
Cardinal Turkson issued a warning, pointing out that the harm illicit mining causes to the environment could be disastrous, especially in light of the difficulties presented by climate change. He emphasized that the loss of flora, deforestation, and soil erosion would threaten food production and exacerbate economic instability.
Turkson issued a warning: “If we keep going in this direction, we’ll lose vegetation that we cannot afford to lose, which will make food production a serious issue.”
