The picture above is the Takoradi-Nsuta railway line, now floating over a galamsey pit. Illegal mining has made it the first floating railway line in history.
Our forests are gone, our lands poisoned, and our rivers reduced to lifeless sludge. Buildings are being undermined, roads torn apart – and now, even a railway line has collapsed into the pit of our collective failure.
Every society has a segment of people whose actions – whether through ignorance, carelessness, or malice – cause harm to themselves and others. If a society allows such tendencies to flourish unchecked, it risks self-destruction. Carlo Cipolla knew it all too well. In summary, when stupidity runs free, society runs to ruin.
You see, a bandit profits by harming society, but a stupid person destroys society – and ultimately himself. Galamsey is stupidity on steroids. The tragedy is not only in the destruction but also in the government’s inaction to stop this with the utmost urgency it deserves, as an entire nation is dismantled before our very eyes.
Permit me a brief comparison:
Anthills are masterpieces of biological engineering and social organisation – rivalling some of the most sophisticated human systems in efficiency and coordination. Bluntly put, as a people, ant colonies are better than us.
Anthills are not democratic, but they are cooperative, disciplined, and purpose-driven. Every ant works for the survival and sustainability of the colony, not personal gain. Observe one closely and you’ll see a living model of harmony between purpose, duty, and structure.
At our current rate of wilful blindness to national destruction, it’s an insult to ant colonies to compare us to them.
Apologies, but one has to say it plainly – damn the consequences. Facing the realities may be the only way to jolt us into finding solutions.
If even ants can build and sustain order, what excuse do we have as a nation blessed with reason?
I can’t believe this is Ghana – the same Ghana that never left my mind since childhood, when we would trek across town before dawn to watch Azumah Nelson fight for the flag on someone’s TV.
The several meetings and forums the president has held about galamsey, ten months after coming into power, point more to doom rather than hope that our president is committed to bringing an end to galamsey like he promised.
With goosebumps and tears in my eyes, I say this: we must take bold, drastic action to compel the President to act. The nation’s survival depends on it.
I am Efo Small, a son of Ghana – born, raised, and rooted in her soil. Here I live, and here I hope to rest when my work is done.
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