The Head Pastor of Deeper Life Church at Sefwi Asawinso in the Western Region has bemoaned the extent of destruction illegal small-scale mining has caused water bodies.
According to him, water bodies have been muddied to the extent that new converts can no longer be baptised in them. “We therefore have to resort to baptizing church members in pans,” Samuel Kofi Owusu told Onua FM on Thursday, April 20. He said they preach alright but after winning souls, they have no clean water bodies in which to baptise them. Most of the new converts do not like being baptised in the pans, he said, forcing some to return to their secular living, a situation he said is making their work difficult.
The fight against illegal small-scale mining – popularly known as galamsey – has intensified, with government’s 21-day ultimatum expiring on Wednesday, April 19. Pastor Owusu commended government for its recent efforts in the fight against the menace. He said their cocoa farms, which hitherto had been on the banks of rivers, have been destroyed due to drying up of most water bodies.
Those they had put their hope in have also been muddied by the activities of the illegal miners, leaving little for them for harvest this year.
-3news