John Mahama's promise to fight galamsey was a façade

During the 2024 electioneering campaign, John Dramani Mahama vowed by the grace of his father, to wipe out galamsey within 109days, if given power. He vowed to fight the menace by repealing LI 2462, declaring a state of emergency, and deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI) to end galamsey.

But as of now, galamsey has gone completely out of hand, and according to Ghana Water Company, the same volume of water they used 4bags of chemicals to treat in a month, a year ago, they now use the 4bags in a week. In other words, 16bags are used monthly, instead of the previous 4bags.

The same volume of water they used $93m worth of chemicals to treat annually a year ago, they now use $320m.

As a matter of fact, Ghana Water Company (GWCL), as we speak, has shut down many of their Headworks across the country, with my very own Agona Kwanyako, which supplies my home District Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam in the Central Region, as the perfect example.

These revelations were made by an official of GWCL on PmExpress on Joy News.

Ghanaians must know

With these facts notwithstanding, assignees of the current NDC government are claiming to have recovered some otherwise no-go forests taken over by galamseyers; they should tell us the names of these forests and where they are located.

Similarly, let them tell the good people of Ghana the names of companies from whom Goldbod is purchasing gold, if they claim not to be buying from galamseyers.

We must be told the quantum of gold purchased from each of these sources, and let us compare it with the quantum Goldbod claims to have exported since its creation.

These are salient questions we've failed to ask them, and they're getting away with their baseless propaganda of "we've put in place enough measures not to warrant declaration of a state of emergency".

Anywhere in the world, when a country is hit with an unprecedented tragedy that threatens the peace, security, and cohesion, the leadership capitalises on or takes advantage of this to take extremely radical steps in order to prevent future occurrences.

Patriot Act

And since the nation would have been in shock and grieving, the people naturally backed the leadership in taking these measures that might often be seen as draconian. And a perfect example was the PATRIOT ACT following 9/21 in America, where the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon were attacked.

The Patriot Act (officially the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001") was a comprehensive U.S. antiterrorism law signed by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001, in response to the 9/11 attacks.

The Act broadened law enforcement's surveillance and investigative powers, enhanced measures to combat international money laundering, and allowed for greater sharing of information among federal agencies, though these provisions have also been criticised for infringing on civil liberties and privacy.

Key Provisions and Goals

1. Expanded Surveillance: The Patriot Act expanded domestic and international wiretapping, gave law enforcement greater access to electronic communications, and allowed for secret "sneak and peek" searches.

2. Information Sharing: It removed privacy protections to enable federal agencies to share more information to prevent and prosecute terrorism.

3. Combating Terrorism Financing: The act strengthened measures to prevent and prosecute international money laundering and the financing of terrorism by requiring financial institutions to report potential illicit activities.

4. Enhanced Tools for Law Enforcement: The overall goal was to deter and punish terrorist acts by providing law enforcement agencies with better tools to investigate.

Ghana's 9/11

Logically, the death of the gallant 8 should have served as Ghana's 9/11 blueprint, and a catalytic accelerant for John Mahama to have been ruthless in the galamsey fight, but with the attitude he has now adopted, it's obvious our compatriots have perished in vain.

Can you imagine President George Bush jnr saying, "If we enact the patriot Act, we might end up trampling on people's rights and freedoms, so let us hasten slowly, as John Dramani Mahama is shamelessly doing with his promises to fight galamsey?

Façade

Clearly, John Mahama had absolutely no intention to fight galamsey; he only used it as a farçade to hoodwink Ghanaians for political power.