Govt can’t end galamsey by 2025 – Kumadoe

International security analyst Richard Kumadoe, has expressed misgivings about the government’s declaration to end small-scale illegal mining (galamsey), saying it is only the imagination of those who put that statement together.

He said this in an interview with TV3’s Johnnie Hughes on the New Day show on Monday, April, 26.

When reacting to the question if the president can end the fight against galamsey since he has put his reputation on the line, Mr. Kumadoe said “it should not be the issue of trusting the president but he said he had put his job on the line and we never held him accountable for that and he has also not been responsible in that position by giving up his position because he put his job on the line, then he said he was going to end galamsey by 2025, I think it’s the imagination of those who put the statement together.

“I don’t think they can, the processes we have adopted today, I don’t think they can end galamsey by 2025 because some of the people who the president is speaking to, have reason to worry about galamsey in their communities. And you cannot enter a land without the chiefs being aware of it, and I remember year’s back he accused one of them and he was banished from the Akyem land and that issue has not been dealt with, to the extent that they waited until their rivers and their lands have been messed up by galamsey activities and they are running to the President.

“This is what we do, we like the pageantry or funfair without action and Friday ahead here, from the seat I’m sitting in that the young minister must act with some level of firmness. If they want to end this galamsey, I think they would have to give him a little level of flexibility and give him the space to bite”.

On the question of the ministers going on a fact-finding tour to fight the menace of galamsey, he said,”they were not fighting it, definitely they were not fighting it, it was a normal PR job they did, it was a normal political activity, they used the galamsey money to fund their political activities, definitely. You remember when Major Mahama died, the audio that came out: Party Hia Sika, it wasn’t me saying it, and the young man who supposedly led to the killing of Major Mahama is walking free and Major Mahama’s family is asking for justice”.

“And if we can have the reason or be bold enough to celebrate BLACK LIVES MATTER when George Floyd died and a Major in the Ghana Armed Forces has been killed on an assignment he is performing on behalf of the state and nobody said anything. And I’m saying that this galamsey and they are going on a tour, they have all the information already, I think what he is doing is to show that he is up to the task and he is doing something within the first few days when the job was assigned to him.

“Otherwise, they have every information they need and they knew very well that they cannot fight it, did you see politicians ever fight galamsey? They are the ones deeply involved, find out how those machines got to those places and who are the owners of those machines? I have a prescription for ending galamsey, you know what we should have done, just call the military, not the political ones, call the military and say we want you to take this assignment as a national security assignment and put the land back to normal.

“And you know what would have happened, the military would have come back, not the Task Force, the military did not act because of the politicians because we are trained officers and we look at these guys who are civilians and we say in our heads: but you are the ones causing the problem, and you want us to follow you, you might be in power but we are trained people and we wouldn’t do what is not allowed for us to wear the uniform to do and that was the mistake they made and Major Mahama was killed”.

He further pointed out that “what they would have done was, the military would have come back to say we need A, B, C, D to fight this menace and don’t come until we get results and you would have seen the military protecting the lands, putting the lands back to normal and ensuring that it becomes a no-go area for everybody, including the politicians. But having the politician, who is the one behind the menace and you are asking the military to follow you, they see them to be, you know, to be people who are not serious and they mustn’t take them seriously”.