Samuel Abu Jinapor, the former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and Member of Parliament for Damongo, has admitted that the former Akufo-Addo government, of which he was a part, did not deal with galamsey.
Abu Jinapor expressed worry as the galamsey situation has worsened, with the turbidity levels in Ghana’s rivers increasing.
According to Abu Jinapor, Ghana will not make any headway in the galamsey fight if it is politicised, which undermines meaningful progress.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Thursday, September 25, Abu Jinapor stated, “I am worried, I am concerned that today we are being told the turbidity levels have gotten far worse”.
“So we then have to ask ourselves some tough questions. The Akufo-Addo administration obviously did not deal with galamsey conclusively, I would be disingenuous to claim otherwise. But when I do a comparative analysis of the turbidity levels, it gives us serious cause for concern.”
“I said when we were in government that we will not make headway if we politicised this matter,” he stressed.
Abu Jinapor added, “Of course, the NDC were huge beneficiaries of galamsey politics in the run-up to the 2024 elections. The NPP lost considerably more. And now, there is a tendency for some within the NPP and its collaborators to say this is payback time, but I want to strongly advise against that”.
“You will not have the political will and spine to deal with this matter if your political opponents are kicking galamsey as a football,” he cautioned.
The Damongo Member of Parliament further urged that the galamsey fight should be a national call for action.
“It should be a national call. All of us should be united in the fight against illegal small-scale mining”, he stressed.
Meanwhile, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a private legal practitioner and social activist, has warned President John Dramani Mahama that the illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, will haunt him even if the cedi goes to GHC6 to a dollar.
According to Vormawor, no economic gains can erase the galamsey stain on Mahama’s legacy.
He argued that, even if the economy records significant growth, neglecting the fight against illegal mining would undermine the administration’s credibility.
Speaking in an interview on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Wednesday, September 24, Barker-Vormawor warned, “Anybody who feels that if the cedi were to go to GHC6 to a dollar, the galamsey question is not going to leave the President, it’s going to haunt him.”
Oliver Barker-Vormawor further highlighted that the John Mahama government’s credibility has been dented by failed galamsey promises.
He noted that the government has already fallen short of its own commitments by failing to repeal Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2462 within its first 120 days.
The social activist added, “The truth is we’re facing an environmental crisis of proportions that none of us have ever imagined. The responses to it must consistently reassure public trust in the way you want to move.
The first thing the government promised us in its social contract was that within 120 days, it would repeal L. I 2462, and it comes in and does the opposite. Already you are sending signals”.
“When you send signals on some of the low-hanging fruit like that, it doesn’t create the impression that you are serious about it. Some of the back and forth of some of the people sent to the field involved in extorting money is a credibility denter. The deportation of the Chinese nationals involved in galamsey is a credibility denter,” Barker-Vormawor stressed.