Founder and head pastor of Perez Dome, Archbishop Charles Agyinasare has lamented the unfavorable affect of unlawful mining, popularly often called galamsey.
In response to him, Ghana is presently mourning because of the harmful practices of galamsey.
Delivering a sermon on Sunday, September 8, 2024 titled: ‘Restoring Our Land: A Name In opposition to Galamsey,’ the revered man of God famous that “Galamsey is a matter that threatens our surroundings, our well being, and our future”.
“It’s a urgent situation that affects our beloved nation,” thus, “As a preacher, I have to be involved with what is occurring round me,” simply because the Apostle Paul did in his day, in response to Acts 17:23 NKJV: “For as I used to be passing by way of and contemplating the objects of your worship, I even discovered an altar with this inscription: To the unknown god. Due to this fact, the one whom you worship with out understanding, Him I proclaim to you”.
He informed the congregation that unlawful miners use strategies comparable to panning (washing soil and gravel in water to separate gold particles), sluicing (utilizing water to clean away soil and focus minerals in a trough) and utilizing mercury to amalgamate gold.
Making reference to Genesis 2:8, 15 NKJV, Archbishop Agyinasare stated, “The Lord God planted a backyard eastward in Eden, and there He put the person whom He had fashioned. Then the Lord God took the person and put him within the Backyard of Eden to have a tendency and maintain it”.
He additionally quoted Psalm 104 in describing the great thing about God’s creation.
He stated caring for the atmosphere, is “a sacred accountability that every of us bears as followers of Christ: the stewardship of God’s creation. From the majestic mountains to the tiniest creatures, all of creation is a testomony to God’s glory and love.”
He stated within the ebook of Proverbs 12:10 (NIV), humankind is reminded: “The righteous look after the wants of their animals, however the kindest acts of the depraved are merciless”.
“This verse highlights the significance of stewardship over God’s creation, which is being compromised by these unlawful actions,” Dr Agyinasare noticed, as he screened to the congregation, movies of fish suffocating in water our bodies devastated by galamsey.
In response to him galamsey, “is prevalent in a number of areas throughout Ghana, notably within the Ashanti, Western, and Jap areas. Amazingly after I went up north, I found that it began taking place within the North, too.”
He additionally used movies to elucidate the menace of unlawful mining to the congregants.
“Earlier than galamsey devastated these rivers, the Pra, as an illustration, was so clear that one might simply fetch from it to drink however that isn’t the state of affairs anymore,” he stated whereas displaying the movies to the members of the church .
He added that as a substitute of “filling the earth and subduing it,” as God commanded man to do in Genesis 1:28 (NIV), humankind is reasonably destroying it. “We’re known as to be caretakers of the earth, but galamsey results in the degradation of our lands and water our bodies, contradicting this divine mandate.”
“Many people flip to unlawful mining as a method of survival,” he stated.
He famous that the “insatiable want for wealth drives many to interact in harmful practices, usually on the expense of their communities and the atmosphere,” as written in Ecclesiastes 5:9-10 NKJV: “Furthermore the revenue of the land is for all; even the king is served from the sector. He who loves silver won’t be glad with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with improve. This is also vainness.”
Archbishop Agyinasare, nonetheless, was fast to level out that: “Mining isn’t unhealthy,” noting: “There are people who find themselves not unlawful miners. They’re given licences to mine. We should encourage such, however the unlawful mining, we should cease”.
He cited corruption and lack of political will as crucial drivers of galamsey, too, saying: “With out sturdy enforcement mechanisms, unlawful miners function with impunity”.