Dean of the UPSA Law School, Prof. Kofi Abotsi, says Wednesday’s tragic military helicopter crash, which claimed the lives of two ministers and six others, should mark a turning point in Ghana’s fight against illegal mining (galamsey).
Speaking on Joy FM’s Newsfile, Prof. Abotsi described the incident as a “brutal and sordid opportunity” for the nation to awaken to the dangers of environmental destruction and to act with unprecedented resolve.
He expressed confidence that President John Mahama, having lost some of his most trusted appointees while they were on a mission to launch the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP) in Obuasi, will emerge from the tragedy with a renewed and intensified commitment to eradicating galamsey.
“We don’t have to constantly do the political calculus and ask ourselves whether a person involved is politically connected before enforcing the law,” Prof. Abotsi stressed. “We have treated environmental crime as if it’s a sub-crime. It is a regular crime and must be treated as such,” he said on Saturday, August 9.
Drawing parallels with historic moments of national reckoning in other countries such as the United States after 9/11, he urged Ghana to seize this moment to make a clean break from political compromises that have long hindered the fight against illegal mining (galamsey).
He warned against allowing political financing interests to shield perpetrators, noting that past governments have paid the price for not confronting the galamsey menace decisively.
“Some people, in their quest to make money at all costs, will poison our water bodies, destroy our food chain, and endanger lives. This must never be tolerated again,” he said.
The helicopter crash in the Dampia Range Forest Reserve in the Adansi Akrofuom District claimed the lives of Defence Minister Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator Muniru Mohammed, former Obuasi East NDC Parliamentary Candidate Samuel Aboagye, NDC Vice Chairman and former Kumasi Mayor Dr. Samuel Sarpong, Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Mane-Twum Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.
Prof. Abotsi urged that their deaths serve as a catalyst for a more fearless, uncompromising crackdown on environmental crime, one where “the people who have to pay the price are no longer the average Ghanaian, but the criminal corporates indulging in galamsey.”
