The Communications Director of Dr. Bawumia’s Campaign, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has categorically stated that no government in the fourth Republic has dedicated more time and resources to fight galamsey like the Akufo-Addo-led government has done.
He made this averrement in the Next Chapter series, a paid program on Asempa FM, extolling the incomparable efforts of the Akufo-Addo-led administration towards fighting galamsey and attributing the surge of the menace to the erstwhile Mills-Mahama government in 2010.
He emphatically stated that his assertion is corroborated with facts that cannot be disputed and called for a United Front to bring an end to the menace.
“No government in the Fourth Republic has dedicated time and resources to fight galamsey like Akufo Addo has done. That is fact; you can disagree with me; you can say whatever you want to say, but facts do not lie. The numbers don’t lie; the realities on the ground don’t lie. No government has put in such effort as this government has; however, law enforcement: burning excavators, jailing culprits alone cannot fix galamsey. That is why we need to come together as a people. We should engage the perpetrators so that the complicits would be exposed. But if we fail to call out these people, enabling these people using politics, we can never win this,” he said.
Referencing news articles from ModernGhana and PulseGhana, Miracles Aboagye made the assertion that, dating back to 2011, farmlands were ravaged, lives were claimed, and over 5,000 were displaced due to galamsey and emphasized how the late president Jerry John Rawling alleged that politicians under the Mahama administration were complicit of the menace.
He chided former President Mahama’s comment made on campaign trails, which blame the Akuffo Addo government for weaker efforts and lack of political will in fighting galamsey. ” You cannot fight a social canker with a divided front.” He said.
He further called on organized labor and every Ghanaian to rally their support behind the government in combating galamsey rather than pushing the burden on the government.
“Government can’t fight the menace alone if the citizens don’t lend it support, we will fail without the backing and support of the people. It is extremely important that the clergy, traditional authorities, civil society organizations, and organized labor, if indeed we want to fight galamsey, we shouldn’t leave the burden on government what we have to do is to come together and support government in the fight against this canker” he stated.
He called for a wholistic approach to tackling galamsey through law enforcement, social reorientation, and property education for the perpetrators and made it noteworthy that, law enforcement isn’t the only antidote to galamsey, “If law enforcement alone could fix galamsey, the efforts of Akufo Addo and the NPP government in the fight against galamsey from 2017 to 2024 would have fixed it.” He remarked.
Meanwhile, President Akufo Addo has set up a five-member ministerial committee to engage stakeholders to assess the government’s efforts in fighting galamsey.