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The Minority Caucus in Parliament has urged the government to bring to book party members who are involved in or promoting illegal mining across the country.
The caucus said the government should unmask and prosecute the party apparatchiks, such as District Chief Executives (DCEs), profiting from such environmental destruction.
Again, the caucus said putting up the attitudes of denial, defensiveness and an insulting attempt to shift blame would not curb the devastating impact of galamsey.
“Today, District Road Improvement Programme machines, which were originally procured to enhance road infrastructure and once heavily criticised by the National Democrartic Congress (NDC), are now being diverted by some of their own MMDCEs to support galamsey operations,” it said.
In a statement issued last Wednesday, the Ranking Member on the Lands and Natural Resources Committee, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, said even the Goldbod initiative, which was touted as a groundbreaking intervention to sanitise gold trading and curb galamsey, was proving to be a monumental scam.
“Goldbod has become gold bomb, serving a few, including close family members, and killing many. Civil society organisations have raised the alarm that a significant portion of the gold being procured by Goldbod is sourced directly from galamsey sites,” the caucus said.
The Minority Caucus claimed that the NDC government was indirectly legitimising and enriching the galamsey trade they promised to end. It said they set up committees, organised fancy media tours, wore Wellington boots for the cameras and posed with shovels like actors on a movie set.
“But the truth is, some of the very people in power are deeply complicit. They issue the permits, look the other way and protect the syndicates,” it said.
In the view of the caucus, Ghana was bleeding from the effects of a clueless, hypocritical and deceptive government that promised to end the galamsey crisis, as soon as they were voted into office.
To make matters worse, it said the government was handed GH?50 million this year in their budget, an allocation five times the GH?10 million given under the New Patriotic Party last year, to combat illegal mining.
“Yet, the public sees only token gestures, with no real action,” it said, pointing out how massive galamsey activities had been happening right in the President’s hometown, Bole Bamboi,” it said.
The Minority Caucus pointed out how today, galamseyers had destroyed the Yonkamba stream, a vital tributary of the Black Volta.
“The irony is very loud. If the President cannot safeguard the natural resources of his own backyard, what hope is there for the rest of the country? So, all along, the NDC's mission was clear- win power, hijack galamsey sites and exploit them for selfish gain,” he said.
Accusing the NDC government of never caring about ending the galamsey menace, the caucus said the current administration, while in opposition, had constantly ridiculed and undermined the previous administration’s efforts.
“They accused the Akufo-Addo administration of complicity and failure, but today, NDC operatives, from the grassroots to high-ranking officials, are the ones boldly leading the galamsey charge.
“They are shielding their people from prosecution, manipulating local systems and fuelling a silent but devastating war on our environment,” it said.
The deteriorating situation, it said, had drawn the concerns of some stakeholders.
For instance, it said on May Day, the Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), in his address, boldly called out the NDC government’s half-hearted and ineffective approach to tackling illegal mining.
“The TUC did not mince words - they spoke for the contaminated rivers, the dying forests and the countless communities whose livelihoods are being buried under the greed of galamsey,” it said.
Such concern, the caucus said, drew verbal abuse, accusations of partisanship and vile attacks from the NDC’s attack dogs as though defending the land that “feeds us is now a political offence”.
“When the NDC was in opposition, they weaponised galamsey for political gain and now in government, they have no plan, no urgency and no shame,” it said.
