Justice William Atuguba, a retired Supreme Court justice, has expressed shock at the government’s incapacity to put an end to the illegal mining threat that is destroying the nation’s water resources and ecosystem despite having all the authority and resources to do so.
Even though President Nana Akufo-Addo risked his presidency to put an end to the “galamsey” threat, many regions of the nation still see water bodies and their forest reserves destroyed in the pursuit of gold.
Respected legal scholar Justice William Atuguba, who has recently spoken candidly about public perceptions of the judiciary, expressed concern about the devastating effects of illegal mining in an interview with Joy News’ Raymond Acquah on Upfront.
Until he visited a gold mining region and saw a brownish-looking river, he claimed to have only heard about the pollution caused by “galamsey” in the news.
He disclosed that during his tenure as a Supreme Court justice, he made an effort to mobilize his colleagues to contribute to the battle against illicit mining at one point, but he abandoned the plan due to a lack of backing.
“Let me confess, when I was on the bench, one day I was going to Kumasi, and I used to hear that the water bodies were polluted. Then on the way, we saw some river flowing; and it was like clay. It wasn’t water. So when I came back I said this is the reality.”
“So, I started telling my colleagues that normally judges don’t act on their own, but we shouldn’t sit down and see the country dying like this. Let us summon the people who should have put down this menace and order them to do it. Well, I didn’t get support; but I understand. I think that I was going too far” he said laughingly.
The government task force that was established to put an end to the threat has now given up after the national campaign was mired in a number of scandals, including the theft of excavators that had been taken into custody and cases of bribery and corruption.
