Rev. Fr. Joseph Kwame Blay, a researcher, priest, and community mobiliser, has called on the government to recognise and support the Chief and people of Jema for their steadfast efforts in combating illegal mining, known as galamsey.
The farming community of Jema, located in the Western North Region, has emerged as a symbol of resistance against galamsey, with residents steadfastly rejecting all attempts to exploit their land for mining purposes.
At the entrance to the town, a clear and firm message has been placed: “No prospecting/mining on Jema lands. Trespassers do so at their own risk.”
The mobiliser emphasised in an interview on Point of View that the Jema community’s proactive stance serves as a model for other regions grappling with similar challenges.
“There must be a reward, there must be commendation for such good acts. What is the government doing to the youth of Jema,” he added.
He also recommended that “I wish that we could really live up to the expectation. There should be a total ban…There must be zones in Ghana. There must be a green zone, which will be no mining…Then there should be the amber zone where places like the savannah areas which are not too vegetable or are not very good for farming if they are mining [there] they do it well.
“Then we have the real places where gold is concentrated like Obuasi, like Tarkwa and then we do the proper mining.”
