John Awuah, President of the Ghana Association of Banks, has criticised Ghana’s civil society organisations (CSOs), accusing them of losing credibility and moral authority in the fight against illegal mining.
In a strongly worded commentary, Mr Awuah said the country’s civil society space has failed to match the scale of the galamsey threat, despite repeatedly claiming to have spoken up.
“I do not believe that we have a credible CSO community in Ghana,” he declared.
He questioned why some CSOs could find energy to campaign over the naming of the Kotoka International Airport, while the country faces what he described as an existential crisis.
“They have time to comment and make a case on the KIA name change at a time that we are all confronted with the existential threat of GALAMSEY,” he said.
Mr Awuah dismissed claims that civil society has done enough advocacy on the issue, describing their interventions as hollow and compromised.
“I know they will say they have made enough noise on GALAMSEY. Nope! It’s been empty noise full of political patronage,” he stated.
According to him, the hallmark of serious civil society activism is measurable outcomes, not media events.
“An active CSO intervention achieves results; not press conferences,” he argued.
He insisted that civil society must confront power directly, not “bow to gimmicks,” as the crisis worsens.
“They push and say truth to power and not bow to gimmicks in the name of GALAMSEY fight,” he said, adding: “Where is the evidence of any success in the fight?”
Mr Awuah also widened his criticism to include other institutions he believes have gone silent, asking pointed questions about the absence of major national bodies and religious leaders.
“Where are the Peace Council, National House of Chiefs, National Development Planning Commission, Pastors, Imams and our Independent CSOs?” he asked.
In a rare endorsement, the banking sector leader singled out JoyNews’ Erastus Asare Donkor as the only voice he still trusts in the national conversation.
“Whenever I listen to Erastus Asare Donkor, who is perhaps the only credible voice left in the GALAMSEY discussions, I cringe,” he said.
He warned that Ghana’s leadership appears more interested in celebrating gold export figures than confronting the health and environmental consequences of the extraction.
“How can we be toying with our present and future, and our leaders are focused on how much Gold we exported and the revenues that accrued to the country last year?” he asked.
He challenged the logic of prioritising revenue while the country’s public health is at risk.
“What will increased Gold revenues do if half of the population is threatened with heightened chronic and acute diseases resulting from the extraction of Gold?” he said, before adding: “Will the growth in Dollars raise the DEAD?”
Mr Awuah called for sustained public pressure and praised The Multimedia Group for what he described as leadership in developmental journalism.
“We must put our hands to the plough and raise our voices to the obvious dangers of GALAMSEY without ceasing,” he said.
He also criticised the political class for creating multiple taskforces and committees over the years, which, in his view, have achieved nothing.
“Politicians are good at coining jargon that achieves next to nothing,” he said, listing a long chain of interventions including Operation Vanguard, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, Operation Halt Galamsey, and the Blue Water Guards.
He described the overall response as an extraordinary case of waste and failure.
“I’m not sure there has been any national epidemic that has received this level of Complete Non-performance and a waste of the taxpayers’ money as we have done on GALAMSEY,” he said.
Mr Awuah questioned how a single national crisis could attract so many task forces and still worsen.
“How can we have this number of Task force to tackle one problem and fail woefully?” he asked.
He concluded that the many anti-galamsey structures were not created to deliver results, but to create the impression of action.
“Except to say that they were and continue to be Political creations to send a message of attention to the phenomenon without real intent to achieve any positive outcome,” he said.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com