Where were you when Mahama was promoting galamsey in 2020 - IPG to Democracy Hub

The Institute for Progressive Governance (IPG) has expressed dismay at the hypocrisy of the pro-NDC group, Democracy Hub, which has been demonstrating against illegal mining operations over its silence on the same issue when the NDC was in power and the practice was in full swing.

In a statement issued by the think tank to the press, IPG expressed concern about the double standards of the group in its approach to the fight against illegal mining operations in the country.

“We find it quite strange the reasons informing the group’s decision to hit the streets of Accra. Key among the reasons for the demonstration is the seeming failure of the government to root out illegal mining operations across the country. While IPG is fully in support of the calls on the government and other stakeholders to ensure that illegal mining operations, popularly called 'Galamsey', are reduced to the barest minimum if not eradicated in their entirety, we also find it quite puzzling the level of hypocrisy underpinning the issues of galamsey by the pressure group," the statement reads in part.

Galamsey, according to IPG, has been a cancerous phenomenon that has plagued the very existence of Ghanaians, as their activities have led to the devastation of forests, pollution of water bodies, and the depletion of our natural resources.

Under the NDC, the statement further stated that the fight against Galamsey became so difficult that the then government’s appointees threw their hands in despair.

The then environment minister, Mahama Ayariga, said it was time for the government to regularize illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) activities as measures had failed to yield the desired results because “wherever there are mineral resources, people will do everything and whatever it takes to be able to extract those resources.”

The admission came more than three years after the then government had set up an anti-galamsey taskforce in May 2013 to clamp down on the practice.

Describing the challenges in fighting galamsey, Mahama Ayariga expressed shock after touring illegal mining areas, where he saw in the Banda area that the miners went into the forest reserve at night to dig deep pits.

“They have a way of covering it, and you won’t know that there is a pit there; you just won’t know,” he said.

“We are asking Democracy Hub’s leadership and their members, where were they when the then Mahama government gave up the fight? Why didn’t they protest against the government at the time?” IPG quizzed.

“More recent were events leading to the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections where the former president and candidate for NDC, John Dramani Mahama, and some key actors within the opposition party were not only heard but seen promoting illegal mining activities,” it added.

Speaking at Odum Banso in the Mpohor Constituency in the Western Region on Thursday, October 22, 2020, the former President pledged that he would free all those jailed for engaging in illegal mining.

He told the chiefs and people that: “It’s sad. The government said it was fighting galamsey and they arrested, prosecuted, and jailed Ghanaians who were engaged in that activity. Today, they are still in prison. Our people are in jail suffering."

"When we come, we shall grant all those arrested and jailed some amnesty. They will come back to their homes and work. I believe that they have suffered enough and shown remorse for whatever wrong they committed,” Mahama said.

“The above is a direct quotation of John Mahama in the 2020 electioneering campaign. He was promoting galamsey. All these DemocracyHub members were in Ghana, but they didn’t see the need to castigate the former president or call him out for promoting galamsey," the statement further indicated.

“In the same 2020 electioneering campaign, the NDC deployed a team of its executives led by Dr. Tony Aubynn and ably assisted by Kwaku Boahen, a then Deputy Communications Officer of the party, and Michael Kwadwo Peprah, a constituency executive, into the Galamsey sites."

“Their mandate was to assure those illegal miners of the unflinching support of John Mahama in their work and that should they vote for the NDC, they would be granted unfettered access to the forested areas to continue devastating our lands and water bodies. What did DemocracyHub say to him? What did the individuals who constitute the pressure group today say to Mahama and his NDC?”

“IPG finds the actions of DemocracyHub to be not only hypocritical but self-serving as well. It can be safely concluded that DemocracyHub is not demonstrating to safeguard our natural resources and prevent our water bodies from being contaminated by illegal mining activities, but working for the opposition NDC, the same party that gave up the fight against illegal mining operations, and the same party that has been promoting Galamsey,” the statement further indicated.