Dr Ayew Afriyie, the Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee and NPP Member of Parliament for Effiduase Asokore, has firmly declared that the government does not plan to prohibit illegal mining, also referred to as galamsey, in the present or upcoming time.
His comments are being made as more and more people, such as environmental activists and opposition parties, are demanding tougher actions to address the harmful impacts of galamsey on Ghana’s water bodies and ecosystems.
During his speech at the Bawumia Volunteers 2024 (B24) launch in Kumasi, Dr. Afriyie mentioned that the NPP government understands the possible political consequences of a ban on illegal mining, especially in constituencies reliant on mining.
He claimed that implementing such a prohibition could result in major setbacks for the party during the next elections, as it could drive away voters who depend on the mining sector for their incomes.
Dr Afriyie also stressed that the country’s water sources used to be clean and the addition of foreign nationals to the galamsey industry has worsened the environmental problem.
“The NDC saw that we [NPP] were winning the seats in the mining areas, so they decided to go and import foreigners to engage in illegal mining on our water bodies. The whole water bodies have not been a problem until now, it just started one month ago. It is someone behind that to force the NPP government to stop galamsey so that we will lose the seats. We won’t stop them [Galamseyers] today or tomorrow.”
“Then they take their journalists to talk about it. Is galamsey done in Accra? They should come to Kumasi to demonstrate against galamsey; like they will see,” he said.
I’m just sharing so we never forget these talking points.
— miss forson (@lydiaforson) September 28, 2024
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