A former General Secretary of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Dr. James Kwabena Bomfeh, popularly known as Kabila, has expressed deep revulsion at what he describes as the level of hypocrisy being exhibited by Ghanaians in the fight against the galamsey menace.
His anger stems from what he considers pretense against the menace of illegal mining and the various calls for its total abolition.
To him, Ghanaians are pretending to be angry at the symptoms of galamsey instead of being deeply concerned about what is actually causing the surge in illegal mining activities.
He was contributing to a panel discussion on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' morning show on Wednesday, October 9, 2024.
"We have been swallowed by deep hypocrisy as a people. We are pretending to be angry at something. We are pretending to be angry at the symptoms, not the causal issues. The symptoms are that the water bodies have been destroyed. Another symptom is that people have demonstrated and have been arrested but we have not addressed the actual issue that led to the commencement of illegal mining activities," Dr. Bomfeh fumed.
The avowed Nkrumaist attributed the causal issues of galamsey to the ownership of minerals and the legal regime, where the constitution states that any minerals discovered belong to the state and not the people living in that geographical location.
He argued that Article 257 (6), which gives the state authority over the minerals discovered in a particular location, should be repealed as it poses a threat to the livelihoods of the people on whose land the minerals are found.
"We deny the people ownership and then you go and exploit it at their expense. The first thing we need to do is to change the legal regime as far as mining rights are concerned," Mr. Kabila vented.
Watch his remarks in the video below:
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