Doing songs about galamsey isn’t enough – Amerado

‘Kwaku Ananse’ hitmaker, Amerado, has asserted that even though musicians are influential in causing social change, it takes more than songs to curb illegal mining in Ghana.

He told Joy FM’s journalist Kwame Dadzie on Showbiz A-Z that someone with power must take the responsibility of making sure the menace, popularly known as galamsey, is stopped.

According to him, some musicians have done songs on galamsey but effecting the desired change should come from the leaders of the country.

“Doing music about galamsey will only create awareness but who is taking the action for us to be able to stop the galamsey? 

We can do the songs, the songs can travel all over the world but who is taking the action? Who is in charge of making sure that all these things are stopped?,” the musician asked.

https://web.facebook.com/watch/?ref=embed_video&v=3289479317849659

A few days ago, while reacting to a question about the need for creative industry people to add their voices to the campaign against illegal mining, actor Adjetey Anang also said that even though he supported demonstrations against galamsey, he believed they do that best through their movies.

“We’ve learnt to do that so well in the stories that we tell and so every now and then if you watch our productions we have adaptations of them, we change certain lines, we inject some of these things for the audience to know that we can have the entertainment and fun but there are serious issues going on there and have to pay attention so we are able to craft that well in our stories that we tell and that’s the best and I think that that’s where we should be heard loudly that hitting the streets,” he told 3FM.

On September 17, Democracy Hub organised a three-day demonstration to mount pressure on the government to stop galamsey to avert its devastating impact on water bodies and forest reserves.

However, about 40 of the protesters were remanded in police and prison custody for allegedly for allegedly committing various offences during the protest.

This caused agitation among the citizenry, with some calling on the police to free the protesters.

Others have also called out celebrities like Sarkodie, Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy for keeping quiet over the unfortunate incident.

Meanwhile, Stonebwoy has a song titled ‘Greedy Men’ which tackles the issue of galamsey. The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) also released ‘Stop Galamsey’ in 2018.

In 2017, Latif Abubakar and his Globe Productions staged a play titled ‘Saints and Sinners’ to address the menace.

While a lot of people have launched various campaign to end illegal mining in Ghana, other have also called on powers that be, especially the President, Nana Akufo-Addo to take immediate action.

Source: myjoyonline.com