President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reaffirmed that he was willing to face political risks when he put his presidency on the line in the fight against illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey.
Despite this commitment made in 2017, President Akufo-Addo has faced severe criticism for his perceived failure to combat galamsey effectively.
During his ‘Thank You Tour’ in the North East Region on Tuesday, October 15, President Akufo-Addo emphasised that he was bound by his promise to fight galamsey and was prepared to face any consequences.
He expressed concerns about the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) poor performance in the 2020 elections in mining areas, attributing it to propaganda by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Presidential Candidate, John Dramani Mahama.
President Akufo-Addo noted that “This galamsey matter has risen a lot in Ghana today. In the last election [2020] in the mining districts of the country, the NPP did very badly largely because the NDC presidential candidate and the party had gone around the mining areas and said that the policy that I was implementing of trying to stop galamsey would be reversed when he comes to power and that those who were already in jail for offences, the galamsey offences, all of them would be amnestied.
“When I said I was putting my presidency on the line, that’s what I meant, that I was prepared to take the political risk involved in trying to deal with this galamsey phenomenon. The result, of course, was that the mining districts, especially in the Western region, all of them, including almost nearly even Tarkwa, were lost to the NPP. That is what I meant when I said I’m putting my presidency on the line, that I was prepared to take the political risk involved in coming to grips with this problem.”
He therefore challenged Mahama to declare his stance on galamsey.
“Today, he [Mahama] said that, no, he doesn’t believe in jail, that he’s against galamsey, and he will enforce the law. So once again, we have to ask ourselves, Mr. JM, where do you stand? What are you telling the people of Ghana? Because every time you speak, you speak from one corner of your mouth and you speak from another corner of your mouth.”
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