Galamsey Got Worse Under Mahama Than Under Akufo-Addo – NPP Tells NDC

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) should be the last political party to complain about the ‘galamsey’ menace.

It said the NDC did little about the canker when it was in power.

In a press statement issued on Friday, the Deputy Director of Communications of the party, Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah said NDC’s “track record in the fight against the ‘galamsey’ menace is horrible.”

According to him, the NDC is adding its voice to the ongoing conversation around the menace to score political points.

As a result, Mr. Owusu Bempah asked Ghanaians to ignore them.

“We are talking about a party that shamelessly launched the Youth in Small Scale Mining programme in the Eastern Region, which apparently opened the floodgates for ‘galamsey’.”

“Of course, the ‘galamsey’ situation got so bad under Mahama in 2015, such that he had to hang his shame on the people of Kyebi, tagging the place as the headquarters of ‘galamsey’ in the country.”

He further accused the NDC of enabling notorious ‘galamsey’ kingpin, Aisha Huang to thrive in Ghana.

“For those that may have missed this; the erstwhile Mahama government issued an infinite resident permit to Aisha Huang.”

“Precisely on 28th March 2015, Aisha Huang was given an indefinite resident permit to live here in perpetuity and to engage in her illegal activities. This happened under the Mahama administration. Meanwhile, she was unsuccessful in getting the permit during the President Kufour era.”

“So you see, any dastardly attempt by the NDC to rationalize the political economy of galamsay must be roundedly condemned. It is beyond dispute that under John Mahama-led government, the national record of the deleterious impact of ‘galamsey’ left a lot to be desired. It was simply unprecedented.”

The NDC had accused President Akufo-Addo of faking his efforts to combat illegal mining in the country.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Sammy Gyamfi said that the President’s fight against ‘galamsey’ is a “complete 419 scam”.

This, according to him, is because “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.”

Mr. Gyamfi asked Ghanaians not to take the President’s resolve seriously.

However, the NPP believes the NDC lost its right to speak on the matter long ago as it failed to deal with the canker when it was in power.