The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is calling for a public display of all items the government claims to have seized as part of its fight against Galamsey which they describe as a failed fight.
Speaking at a press conference organised on the banks of River Pra at Twifo New Daman in the Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira District of the Central Region this afternoon, Communications Director of the Party, Mr. Sammy Gyamfi said they “insist” a public exhibition of all items the Inter-Ministerial Committee Against Illegal Mining claims to have seized.
“We insist that a public exhibition of all 900 excavators, 2,779 weapons and ammunitions and the 4,045 other mining equipment confiscated must be held in the spirit of transparency and to the benefit of all Ghanaians. We are terrified at the prospect of all these weapons finding their way into the hands of hoodlums belonging to NPP vigilante groups in an election year” he said.
Giving the reason why they had held the press conference at what he called “an unusual location” Mr. Sammy Gyamfi said “…you may recall, that at a speech delivered at the 2019 Edition of the Investing in Africa Mining Ndaba, the World’s largest Mining Investment Conference in South Africa, President Akufo-Addo claimed that River Pra has cleared up and was beginning to host aquatic life again due to his fight against “galamsey”. Today, we have brought you to the banks of the Pra River, so that you can judge first-hand whether President Akufo-Addo spoke the truth to the world when he claimed the “Galamsey” fight had been won”.
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As a party, they believe that “the current state of affairs reflects the failure of President Akufo-Addo’s so called fight against galamsey. In fact, that so called fight turned out to be a ruse to kick out legal small scale miners and artisanal “galamseyers” and replace them with a new breed of marauding illegal miners belonging to the ruling New Patriotic Party and government.” he said.
He said that this issue goes beyond the normal national bi-partisan debates. According to him, it is one that borders seriously on the Sustainable Development Goals Ghana ascribes to. He related the current situation which he says is about “health, water, forest resources and our survival as a nation” to the SDG’s 6, 13, 14 and 15 “which all talk about clean water, sanitation, climate action, conservation and sustainability of land, water and marine resources” he added. By this, the NDC believes the president has failed to protect the environment against this menace which has got the environment degraded although he put his presidency on the line concerning this matter.
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Giving a long list of reports and evidences which shows that people living along the Pra and major river bodies like Birem are suffering from the decadent effects of the Galamsey, the communications director of the NDC said they are a “testament to the fact that Ghanaians have been taken for a ride by President Akufo-Addo, who continues to supervise and promote the escalation of the illegal mining menace”.
They also called on the Special Prosecutor to speed up processes into investigating issues of Galamsey allegations leveled against government concerning these maters and avoid the lackadaisical attitude he is putting towards the issues like that of Anas’ Galamsey Fraud Documentary.
The party says it will officially write to the UN General Secretary a petition for the emoval of the president as the co-chair of the SDG’s advocates.
