Anas Releases Trailer For New Documentary On Galamsey; Features NDA Officials, Jubilee House
Investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas has released a trailer for his highly anticipated new documentary, “Galamsey Economy”.
The documentary will be Tiger Eye P. I.’s second on illegal mining after Galamsey Fraud which was released in 2019.
On Thursday, November 10, he created suspense with footage put together as the trailer.
The one-minute thirty-seven seconds video clip shows a few scenes of the documentary, however, gives hints about the powers behind the menace.
Lucky Dube’s “Rasta Man’s Prayer” music accompanies video and picture slides of the hints.
It begins with Anas’ journey back from overseas to Ghana, his ride along a road, videos of active galamsey at a site, a picture of the Jubilee House, a logo of the Northern Development Authority (NDA), a picture of the Chief Executive Officer of the NDA-Sumaila Abdul Rahma-, and a picture of President Akufo-Addo and the Coordinator for NDA at the Office of the President- Napaga Tia Sulemana.
It also showed a Joy News report of the Minister for Lands summoning five Regional Ministers over the menace as well as an interview with Most Reverend Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast.
The trailer also features inscriptions such as “It Is An Eyesore”, “The Dark Secrets” and “Not Everything You See Will Happen”.
The documentary will premiere on November 14 and 15.
This comes as another documentary from Tiger Eye on illegal mining after it released “Galamsey Fraud” in 2019 which implicated some government officials.
One such person was the Secretary to the then Inter-Ministerial Committee on illegal mining (IMCIM), Mr Charles Cromwell Bissue.
In the documentary, Charles appeared collecting bundles of money to facilitate illegal mining- an illegality the Committee was commissioned to fight against.
He was later “cleared” by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service after Anas failed to appear before it to aid in the investigations.
Tiger Eye recently said it does not recognise Bissue’s exoneration as communicated by the CID.
It said it decided not to collaborate with the CID because it sensed the government’s referral of the allegation was to undermine the investigations of the OSP which had already commissioned an investigation into it.
The current documentary comes at a time when illegal mining activities in Ghana are on the rise.
The menace is threatening not just the country’s forest reserves and water bodies but also the country’s cash crops- cocoa and coffee.
Reports indicate that some farmers have already begun selling off their cocoa farms to galamseyers in rural areas.
Samples of water from some of the river bodies in Ghana fetched by JoyNews showed massive pollution of the country’s waters.
River Tano, Nwui, Offin, Bonsa, Bia, Ankobra, Amoya, Afu Afu and Totoa streams have changed colours according to the samples fetched by JoyNews.
Pressure group Occupy Ghana has called on the President to declare a state of emergency at all mining sites in Ghana, a call that has garnered much support from some industry players.
On October 5, during an engagement with the National House of Chiefs, President Akufo-Addo admitted his government’s failure in the battle against illegal mining termed as “galamsey” in the country.
He claimed that the fight nearly cost him his position as president during the 2020 elections.
“It has not been easy, it has not been popular and we have not got the immediate results that I was looking for. Indeed in the last elections of 2020, my stance on the issue cost my party and I significant losses in the mining communities.”
The government’s failure at this, he said, is despite numerous initiatives it has introduced.
“We have tried many initiatives including that of the Community Mining Scheme, and the establishment of a new legal regime for dealing with the perpetrators of this phenomenon which has imposed severe sanctions on those Ghanaians and foreigners convicted of illegal mining.”
“Still we have not won the fight”, he submitted.
The government has announced revamped measures in the fight against illegal mining which include: the relaunch of Operation Halt II, a military operation that clamps down on illegal mining on various water bodies and in forest reserves in Ghana by the Minister for Lands and natural resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor on October 13.
Among the other measures adopted by the government include the declaration of river bodies as red zones for mining; suspension of reconnaissance and prospecting activities in forest reserves except in exceptional cases; and the banning of the manufacture, sale and use of changfan.
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
