The Right Reverend Festus Yeboah-Asuamah, the Anglican Bishop of the Sunyani Diocese has condemned the growing trend of illegal mining, and urged the government to take radical measures to bring the situation under control. He regretted that though successive governments had done their best, the menace remained pervasive, destroying water bodies, farmland, and the environment and making people ill too.
Describing illegal mining as affront to Christianity and faith, Rt Rev Yeboah-Asuamah said the “earth is the Lord and fullness thereof”, urging stakeholders, the Christian community in general to remain at the front-line in the fight against galamsey.
Rt Rev Dr Yeboah-Asuamah made the call when he addressed the opening session of the Third Session and of the Fifth Synod of Diocese held at the St Anselm’s Cathedral in Sunyani on the theme “From maintenance to mission: Navigating change for a vibrant future”.
He said: “Responsible environmental stewardship is rooted in our faith as Christians”, and called on Ghanaians to do the needful, and support the government to tackle the illegal mining head-on and to preserve the environment for the unborn generation.
Rt Rev Yeboah-Asuamah also spoke against the rise in corruption, which was bane to accelerated national development, saying though the nation had made some gains in the corruption fight, more ought to be done in law enforcement and policy implementation.
Highlighting some of the consequences, the Anglican Bishop noted that the destructive impacts of corruption remained enormous both in short and long terms and called on the government to do more to bring the menace under control.
Rt Rev Yeboah-Asuamah also called on the government to find jobs for the youthful population, with urgency, regretting that many of young people were now engaged in illegal and harmful practices to survive, urging the government to create job opportunities for them to stay in the country too.
Source: GNA
