Last week, President John Dramani Mahama held a press conference. He engaged with members of the media in a scripted event that many have praised. It was a repetition of previous such capers by former Presidents of Ghana, who, it seems, have the abiding belief that they can only speak to the press when they are in large numbers, that the selection of those who get to attend the event is a pool of their own making. They prefer our media together in large and controllable numbers, but engage foreign media in single numbers.
Interesting, isn’t it?
If one follows other democracies, their Presidents speak to their press people all the time, whenever they have the opportunity. But that is not the case in Ghana. In Ghana, the President must gather the collective press in one room, in their dozens, with some also hanging on in regional capitals by electronic means. And in all that numbers of press men and women, we did not get a single question that seems to have moved him one inch on his feet.
It is either the President is extremely good, eloquent and truthful; or the gathered press is no more useful than their suits.
I do not dare to provide to choose either way; but we can all think about it.
Indeed, the Wednesday evening event, attended by the ‘crème de la crème’ of Ghana’s media, was quietly dying out in terms of impact by the time we went into the weekend. After the various political programs over the weekend, it is doubtful whether it would attract even a single other headline this new week; that is how useful it was.
Like many, I was going to dismiss the whole event as ‘unprofitable’ but for the issue of illegal mining, known locally as ‘galamsey’.
President Mahama was asked a question as why he had failed to declare a ‘state of emergency’ in areas in Ghana heavily afflicted by illegal mining. His answer was that asserting the country’s existing laws provide sufficient power to combat the scourge of the menace, and that a declaration of emergency can only be a “last resort.”
“I’ve been reluctant to implement a state of emergency because we’ve not exhausted all the powers we have,” President Mahama said.
The larger question is this; why has Mr. Mahama, who has been in power for over seven months, failed to deploy the ‘country’s existing laws that (sic) provide sufficient power to combat the scourge of the menace’? Why is he not using all the laws to combat something that is killing all of us? And why did the collective wisdom of the media that had gathered for the event fail to follow up with the question?
This is important, for a number of reasons. First, the event was not for the media to engage in conviviality with the President, but to put the hard questions to him.
Second, illegal mining is the single most catastrophic phenomenon that has occurred in Ghana since its founding. It has destroyed vast sources of water and destroyed thousands of hectares of land, including heritage forests. It threatens our very survival of our nation as a viable entity. Why did the media fail to follow up the question of illegal mining?
I happen to agree with President John Mahama that declaring a ‘state of emergency’ in areas afflicted by illegal mining is not the answer. The answer, is to fully deploy the laws on environment, forestry and mining, and if existing laws are not enough, to pass additional ones or amend existing ones to suit the need.
He can also get the Ghana Police Service, which seems to be more interested in scouring social media for people who infringe the bounds of free speech to arrest the likes of Kwame Baffoe ‘Abronye’, to do the needful by finding the people virtually digging next door to police stations (in some communities) in search of gold.
The Ghana Police Service can be found in every district, town, village and most hamlets in Ghana, and if President Mahama cannot get them to do the simple thing of arresting and prosecuting illegal miners, then President Mahama should probably not be in office.
That question should have been put by our personnel present.
The fact is, like President Akufo-Addo before him, President John Mahama is also playing a game with illegal mining in Ghana, which is largely controlled by the Chinese government. They do not want to irritate that Asian Tiger, even if the Tiger is giving this nation a royal anal rape of a lifetime.
He, like his predecessor, is betraying this nation and future generations. We would only realize this, when the water is destroyed to such an extent, that whole towns and communities would die out, and diseases would be pouring out of our water pipes and into our food, to flood hospital beds by the millions.
The Passing of a Safo
When I was very young (probably around nine, ten years old) I became deeply enamoured of Christianity, a special type of Christianity. It was the Christianity that promoted an ascetic lifestyle, sacrifice and giving one’s all to the worship of God. At that time, the sect that led the biggest push towards that lifestyle of a sect called ‘Christo Asafo’. They happened to have set up shop in an uncompleted building in Sunyani, where I was growing up. I used to attend the meetings with an older cousin, now deceased. (He was later to become a priest in the movement, break away, form his own sect in Kumasi and garner quite a following. He is dead, but his movement survives him).
My father, bless his soul, was however not enthusiastic about my emerging ‘spirituality’ and one night, literally (yes, literally) beat it out of me with a cane. The caning was so severe and traumatic, that I remember it to this day.
I was lucky he subjected me to the abuse, though. Those other children in the Sunyani town and adjourning towns followed the movement, ended up in communes established by Apostle Kwadwo Safo (yes, the same one), where he used them to grow huge tons of corn and other foodstuffs, which he then donated his name. Thus earned the title of ‘philantropist’.
Last week, Apostle Safo passed. He is going to be celebrated as a ‘man of God, innovator, philanthropist, and industrialist’.
This is mostly true; and I wish that our governments had had the vision to engage him when he lived on some of his innovations. But I still bless my father that he saved me from ending up in one of Apostle Safo’s ‘communes’.
May Apostle Safo’s soul rest in peace.
(PERISCOPE DEPTH of Monday, 15th September, 2025).
