The Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, has accused President John Dramani Mahama of lacking the political will to tackle illegal mining, known locally as galamsey.

This follows the President’s indication that his administration is not in a rush to declare a state of emergency in the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, insisting that existing laws provide sufficient authority to tackle the menace effectively.

He acknowledged the growing public pressure to take drastic measures against illegal mining activities but cautioned against resorting to a state of emergency prematurely.

“I’ve been reluctant to implement a state of emergency in the galamsey fight because we’ve not exhausted the powers we even have without a state of emergency,” President Mahama explained at his media encounter on Wednesday September 10.

“We have the opportunity to arrest anybody, to confiscate any such thing. The laws for forest protection and all that give us enough powers to be able to act.”

Reacting to Mahama’s comments on Citi FM’s The Big Issue on Saturday September 13, Ahiagbah questioned the president’s commitment to the fight, describing his position as vague and ineffective.

“Now President Mahama tells us that the state of emergency is not what we need but somehow there are laws on the book that we have not exhausted, that we have not exercised, and I was left wondering — what are those laws?” Ahiagbah said.

“In trying to explain, he says we can still arrest people, confiscate. We have done all of that. We have arrested people.”

Ahiagbah argued that all available legal tools have already been used in the fight against galamsey and challenged Mahama to name the specific laws he believes remain untouched.

“Everything has been done. So the question is that what law is President Mahama talking about on the books which have not been exercised? If there are any that have not been exercised, why is he not doing so? What is he waiting for?”

When asked what he believed was the reason behind Mahama’s approach, Ahiagbah responded bluntly: “Lack of interest in fighting the thing. Lack of interest.”

He further accused the president of overseeing a scandal involving GoldBod, a government entity he claimed is purchasing gold from illegal miners.

“One honest admission is that the president said that GoldBod is buying galamsey gold. That was admission from the president. That is a very terrible situation we have on our hands — that an entity established by law is engaged in business with an illegal enterprise. That is scandalous. That is something you want to impeach somebody about.”

Comparing the issue to the recent removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo from public office, Ahiagbah questioned the double standards.

“When we just removed a CJ because people processed her travel things for her. She didn’t process it herself… That one, you remove an individual from office for that. Now you are telling us that you have set up a GoldBod that is buying illegal gold and that is okay.

“What I am saying is that the president is running away from fighting galamsey.”