Nobody expects gov’t to deal with galamsey in 9 months – Miracles Aboagye
The Director of Communications for the 2024 Dr. Bawumia campaign, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has clarified that the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) government is not under pressure to completely clamp down on illegal mining operations (galamsey) just after 9 months of assuming office.
According to him, intensified calls from various segments of the population are supposed to get the government to act decisively in dealing with the environmental crisis, and uphold some of its campaign promises made in 2024.
During an engagement with Channel 1 TV on Monday, September 22, Miracles Aboagye explained his previous visit to the heavily impacted Kwanyako Water Works in the Central Region, stating that the visit was meant to gather evidence for the Minister for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, who had suggested that there was no evidence supporting claims that the galamsey menace has worsened over the past few months.
“It was simply to provide the much-needed and requested evidence by the government and you will recall that after the Presidential Media Encounter, a lot of Ghanaians were not satisfied with the response he [the President] gave on the galamsey menace, people felt that he wasn’t giving strong enough answers and hope
“Subsequent to that, the Minister for Government Communications indicated that if anybody believe the galamsey menace has become worse than it was, then they should provide evidence, so we went to Kwanyako, a community that has never experienced such a situation with their main source of water before, just to simply show the government that indeed if the Catholic Bishops and the TUC say that the situation is worse, then it is worse, but if he still insists that he wants evidence, he should look right at his backyard in his own region,” he said.
The former NPP Director of Communications further shared that stark images and videos of the murky Ayensu River at Kwanyako and the closure of the Kwanyako Water Works due to a high turbidity, should be enough reasons to push the government in taking decisive actions to fight galamsey.
“Our worry is not the fact that galamsey hasn’t ended in 9 months, nobody expects the government to get galamsey out of the way in 9 months, what we are saying is that we want to see the government take decisive action towards the fight…the government made some 6 specific promises in dealing with galamsey and we don’t see them implementing even one yet, we just want to see them implementing some of these proposals he made while in opposition,” he added.
Miracles Aboagye explained further that the government’s reluctance in taking some actions against illegal mining operations has given Ghanaians cause to worry that it may be purchasing gold from persons involved in galamsey.
“If we connect all the dots, from his promise to free galamseyers, to his party officials promising free operations for these illegal miners, then we become worried that maybe he is actually giving room for these galamseyers to thrive and that is why the situation is worsening, and that is a worry to us,” he claimed.
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