Illegal miners must face the same punishment as convicted murderers – Minority Chief Whip

Kwame Governs Agbodza, the Minority Chief Whip, has labelled illegal miners as murderes who deserve the harshest type of punishment that murderes deserve.

According to the Adaklu MP, those who harm our water bodies by unlawful mining should face the harshest penalties.

He stated that the most severe punishment for any human being should be someone who pollutes water, because dirty water kills people faster than anything else.

He was responding to Deputy Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo Markin’s statement on the House floor on the need for MPs from all parties to support the government’s efforts to combat illegal mining, often known as galamsey.

The Deputy Majority Leader said that the fight against galamsey was a collaborative endeavour, but we have failed as a country because politicians, the media, CSOs, and citizens have failed to support the government’s efforts.

"There should be no NDC, there should be no NPP, and there should be no partisanship when it comes to galamsey. I am worried about what is happening in our water bodies. We don’t have clean water. The cancer is going on. A lot of people are going to have colon cancer. Have we thought about that? And these are the very poor in our society, and they will come to us as politicians to demand support from us to treat themselves. We will suffer because we all drink water in the country, and that water comes from Ghana Water. We have to be careful in this country. We have to end this political hypocrisy. We must know as a political class that there are some matters that are of national interest and congregate around them without thinking about the next election.”

The Minority Chief Whip, who also contributed to the statement, concurred that the operations of illegal miners posed a threat to human life.

He claimed that galamseyers are the same as murderers and must face the same punishment as those guilty of murder.

He said, “If you are outside of this house and in this house engaged in galamsey, you are just as much a murderer as anybody who kills people through armed robbery, and the punishment that goes for murderers should go for people who engage in galamsey.”

He stated that the House was ready to assist all government agencies and bodies responsible for the fight against galamsey in taking effective actions.