The NDC government cannot be left out of blame over galamsey fight - Afenyo-Markin blasts Minority

The Majority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, has accused the Minority of politicising the fight against the galamsey menace in the country.

Addressing the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, Afenyo-Markin stated that the blame game by the Minority should not be encouraged, emphasising that the galamsey issue is not one to be politicised.

According to him, the previous NDC administration failed to control the galamsey menace, leading to significant damage to the country’s water bodies.

“We cannot, as a political class, blame game on galamsey and say that a particular political party, in this case, the Akufo-Addo administration, has failed in its fight against galamsey and leave out what happened preceding the Akufo-Addo administration.

“Indeed, it’s a known fact that the Akufo-Addo administration took a decision to deploy the Ghana Armed Forces through what is known as ‘Operation Halt’,in the early years of his presidency and the aim was to combat the threat of illegal mining, which was wrecking deliberate havoc on the nation’s water bodies and forest reserves,” he said.

Afenyo-Markin, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Effutu constituency, highlighted the challenges encountered in the administration’s fight against galamsey while praising the successes achieved.

“Mr Speaker, it was because at the time he took office, the galamsey activity had gotten out of hand and the then administration had no immediate answer to it. While the operation achieved some successes, various challenges arose that undermined the efforts to fully eradicate the menace.”

The lawmaker therefore called on Parliament to acknowledge President Akufo-Addo’s bold and courageous efforts in the fight to eradicate the galamsey menace.

“Mr Speaker, as a parliament, it is important for us to acknowledge the president for taking a bold decision to fight the menace of galamsey. The president in a statement released has reinforced the operational and tactical capacity of the ‘Operation Halt’ by directing the Minister of Defense to deploy additional military personnel to intensify the ongoing operation halt across the country.

“For the first time in this fight, logistics such as naval boats are to be deployed on water bodies to stop all legal and illegal mining activities on water bodies across the country,” he stated.



MAG/AE