Galamsey: Fixthecountry Movement to Stage Protest

The Fixthecountry movement has announced a protest on May 1 against illegal mining activities known as galamsey across the country.

This will be the first protest by the pressure group since President John Dramani Mahama took office in January.

Convenor for the group, Oliver Barker Vormawor, says the move is to keep the government on its toes to take urgent and decisive actions in the fight against the menace which is fast depleting the country’s forest reserves and posing a significant threat to human existence.

“A protest is also a last response mechanism. It’s when citizens can’t get the government to take something urgent and seriously that we have to come to this. It’s been four months {since the government took office},” he justified in an interview on JoyNews.

He observes that the government has shown much concern for other issues compared to the fight against illegal mining.

“We’ve seen the government being serious about other issues that if it was coming knitted to this, a clearer roadmap towards this would have already been unveiled. For us, the reason we are mobilising back onto the street is a reminder to the government.”

“If it needs a mandate from the streets to remind them that it’s something that we are demanding a more pressing action, we are giving it to the government. We are marching in solidarity for the government to take more serious measures on this issue.”

According to him, the scheduling of the protest for May 1 is strategic.

“When there is a problem and you are calling for help, you shout ‘Mayday Mayday’. Well, this is a shout for help and so on the 1st of May we are going to step out and we are mobilising towards that effect to shout May Day.”

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini