Environment and Social Development Analyst Paa Kwesi Eduaful Abaidoo has cautioned President John Mahama not to rely solely on declarations and public statements to address Ghana’s worsening illegal mining (galamsey) crisis.
“This should be beyond declaring it as a state of emergency,” he stressed during an interview on ABC News GH on Wednesday.
“We’ve passed the point of acknowledgements. The country needs visible, non-partisan action backed by arrests, prosecutions, and environmental restoration.”
President Mahama had, on Tuesday, July 15, officially declared galamsey a national emergency while on his Western North Regional tour.
In his address, the president promised swift action and criticised both illegal miners and rogue task forces accused of extorting small-scale miners.
However, Abaidoo’s reaction reflects growing public frustration with what many see as repeated political rhetoric lacking enforcement.
“It is unfortunate that the president is now talking about it urgency, because we have been talking about this long ago,” Abaidoo charged.
The urgency of the matter was amplified by Attorney-General Dr. Dominic Ayine’s directive to EOCO to investigate ruling party officials, Joseph Yamin and Yakubu Abanga, over alleged involvement in galamsey. Abaidoo applauded the move but urged follow-through.
He also backed calls for a broader investigation that includes findings from the Frimpong-Boateng report, which detailed the political protection illegal miners enjoy.
