The National Democratic Congress has dared President Akufo-Addo to prosecute his appointees cited in illegal mining.
According to the party, the President’s call to action on the illegal mining menace remains mere rhetoric if it is not backed by the appropriate action such as going after his offending appointees.
The party noted that the first step to redemption for President Akufo-Addo is to prosecute all his appointees that have been fingered in the galamsey menace in order to send a clear signal to Ghanaians that anyone caught in the activity will be dealt with without fear or favour regardless of party colours.
At a press conference on Thursday addressed by the National Communications Officer Sammy Gyamfi, the party said, “We demand the immediate prosecution of all government functionaries and NPP officials who have engaged themselves in illegal mining (galamsey) activities such as Charles Bissue, Chairman Wontumi, Andy Owusu, Ekow Awusi, Prof. Frimpomg Boateng among others.”
“We demand that all the so-called illegal mining companies like the Akonta Mining Limited which belongs to Chairman Wontumi and Heritage Imperial Mining Company which belongs to Mr. Donald Enstuah, a known financier of the NPP who has invaded forest reserves without any mining leases or permits, must be closed down and prosecuted. The assets of these companies must be confiscated and their owners surcharged with costs of the destruction of those forest reserves.”
“We demand that all security personnel complicit in illegal mining activities should be made to face internal investigations and discharged from the various services to serve as a deterrent to others”.
Sammy Gyamfi was responding to President Akufo-Addo’s call when he met chiefs in Kumasi on Wednesday over the galamsey crisis, which has become a major talking point in Ghana.
The party described attempts by the President to pass the responsibility of the illegal mining crisis onto chiefs as needless.
Below are details of a statement by the NDC
A PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED BY SAMMY GYAMFI ESQ., NATIONAL COMMUNICATION OFFICER OF THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS (NDC) ON THE INCREASED SPATE OF ILLEGAL MINING IN THE COUNTRY AND MATTERS ARISING, HELD ON THURSDAY, 6TH OCTOBER, 2022.
Good afternoon to you ladies and gentlemen of the media. We welcome you with the greatest of pleasure to this engagement to discuss an issue of great importance to our collective survival as a nation.
We are talking about the ever-worsening spate of illegal mining popularly referred to as “galamsey” and its attendant devastation that we are witnessing on our water bodies, forest reserves, cocoa farms, and general ecosystem.
Having been at the fore front of bringing to public attention, stories about some of the most obscene and egregious destructive effects of illegal mining in recent times, we are pretty sure that some of you in the media may have grown weary of our continuous discussion of this subject matter, for the simple reason that the more we talk about it, the worse it gets by the day. We are perhaps as weary as you are.
However, collectively, we cannot afford to be weary, because we are dealing with a menace whose ramifications portend grave danger not only for our generation and the very survival of our nation, but serious consequences for generations unborn.
We wish to highly commend you in the media for relentlessly highlighting the deleterious effects of illegal mining and constantly spending precious airtime, sometimes even at the peril of your lives to bring this issue to the front burner.
We have always maintained, that as far as we are concerned, and as the evidence bears us out, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government has not exhibited any genuine commitment to the fight against galamsey. And that their so-called fight against “galamsey” is nothing but a scam.
Indeed, we have always told Ghanaians that the single most important thing needed to wage a successful war against illegal mining in Ghana is the political will of the duty bearers of the country to confront the menace and all the dark forces fuelling it, regardless of whose ox is gored. It has however been clear to us from day one that behind the façade of the so-called galamsey fight of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government, is a well-crafted ruse designed to appropriate the illicit galamsey trade for NPP apparatchiks and higher-ups in the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government and their foreign collaborators.
Time without number, we have got the clearest confirmation from countless instances of state-backed complicity, active participation and sometimes clear aiding and abetment of the illegal mining activities not only by officials of the NPP, but by some of the very men and women in the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government entrusted with the responsibility of protecting our environment.
Indeed, Ghanaians would recall that on 17th April, 2017, President Akufo-Addo was appointed as a Co-chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) Advocates alongside Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg. Subsequent to that appointment, President Akufo-Addo on July 10th, 2017, in a speech delivered at the Accra International Conference Center, promised to “put his presidency on the line” in order to win the war against illegal mining.
Sadly, today, not only has the President once again failed to walk his talk, but the image of galamsey stands like a towering monument, reminding all Ghanaians of President Akufo-Addo’s deceitful character and his lack of political will to fight illegal mining.
You would all recall the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) which was formed by President Akufo-Addo at the outset of his fraudulent fight against illegal mining. This committee drew support from the media, civil society, both political and non-political actors and the general public, promising to be a potent vehicle that will bring an end to the galamasey menace. Several millions of taxpayers money was spent on this venture which would turn out to be the first of several ill-conceived, half-hearted and fruitless attempts by this government to combat a very serious problem as galamsey.
After banning legal small scale mining for over two (2) years and murdering some innocent Ghanaians in the process in line with their “shoot to kill” policy as espoused by NPP MP for Bekwai and first Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joe Osei Owusu, Ghanaians would later come to know, the Inter-Ministerial Task Force had no genuine commitment to fight “galamsey”. But instead, set out with the sole motive of driving away some unemployed Ghanaian youth and in some cases, licensed small scale miners, and replacing them with New Patriotic Party functionaries and footsoldiers.
Today, government’s so-called community mining program, has been taken over by NPP functionaries and government officials.
President Akufo-Addo’s engagement with chiefs and MMDCE’s in Kumasi yesterday provided yet another opportunity for him to engage in his usual flowery speeches which cannot win the war against galamsey. While urging the chiefs to help depoliticise the fight against “galamsey”, the President is reported to have told his MMDCE’s that fighting galamsey will convince Ghanaians to help the New Patriotic Party (NPP) ‘break the eight’. This has been the true nature of President Akufo-Addo who says one thing and does the exact opposite. He promised to protect our environment but turned around to strengthen “galamsey” and supervise the most devastating degradation of our environment.
Ladies and gentlemen, how can the man, President Akufo-Addo who stood on a political campaign platform in 2016 in Obuasi and promised to promote illegal mining when elected, lecturer us on the need to depoliticize the fight against illegal mining?
Today, distinguished friends, illegal mining has gotten out of hand in nearly all regions of Ghana, as galamsey activities blossom in 13 out of the 16 Regions of Ghana, a clear testament to the fact that the fight is completely lost. Having enjoyed the biggest goodwill from Ghanaians, support from you in the media, civil society, and political opponents, and having marshalled the coercive force of the state and spent millions of taxpayers funds on “Operation Vanguard”, “Galamstop” among others, ostensibly in the fight against the “Galamsey” menace, President Akufo-Addo’s scorecard on galamsey is an unmitigated disaster just as he has proven to be in the area of economic management and all other facets of our national life.
Not only has this government failed to preserve our environment, but our leadership today has compromised agriculture, livelihoods, and Sustainable Development Goals 6, 13, 14 and 15 which among other things talk about Water and Sanitation, Climate Action, Life below water and Life on Land.
Today, Ghana’s water bodies are more polluted and contaminated than ever witnessed in the history of this country. According to a recent JoyNews documentary by a journalist with Kumasi-based Luv FM, Erastus Asare Donkor, titled “Destruction for Gold”, majority of Ghana’s water bodies, including River Ankobra, the Pra River, River Ofin, the Afu Afu Stream, River Bonsa, the Totoa stream, the Nwui river, River Tano, River Bia and the Amoya Stream are all terribly polluted.
It is instructive to note that according to the Water Resources Commission, the recommended turbidity levels for drinking water is 5 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU), while that for other water use ranges between 80 – 150 NTU. However, according to the documentary, samples collected from the above-mentioned water bodies showed turbidity levels of between 504 to 3,880 Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU) as at the end of February 2022, which is 3,875 times higher than the acceptable value for drinking water. So badly polluted and contaminated are these water sources by mercury, lead and other dangerous chemicals, that water from these sources cannot be used for any human, domestic or even agricultural activity.