Former General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Kwabena Agyei Agyapong has declared the Akufo-Addo government’s fight against galamsey as a failure.
Mr. Agyepong, who is also aspiring for the 2024 presidential ticket of the NPP told Ghana television that one does not need a soothjsayer to conclude that the galamsey fight has failed.
“With mining, you can’t hide it because the results will show in the water bodies that we have. If there has been a success in the programmes that we have implemented you will see that in the quality of the freshwater bodies we have. As you can see it’s become very milky like milo as some people call it.
Again it’s how we impose order and discipline in the country. How do we hold state officials liable for any infractions? If you are there at the minerals commission you are supposed to do a job for this country.
It is quite clear that there are a lot of things that are wrong. Either the regulators are not working or a lot of people are not doing their work and people are not getting punished for not doing their work and that is what is supposed to stop. So we impose order, and a strong penalty regime so people realize that when they are caught they will suffer a proper penalty. I cannot understand why people will be given permits to go into our forest reserves,” he said
The government attempted to fight the menace but committees that it set up got embroiled in thievery and corruption, with some members on the committee, including former environment Minister superintending over the stealing and disappearances of excavators.