Galamsey menace: Akufo-Addo must take stronger action – Jantuah

A former vice president of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), Mr. Kwame Jantuah has called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to come up with stronger action to tackle the issue of illegal mining (galamsey) in the country.

In his view, galamsey has gone on for far too long and must be dealt with once and for all.

Speaking to Asaase Radio on Tuesday, Mr. Kwame Jantuah opined that the people engaged in the destruction of Ghana’s water bodies are waging war and must not be left off the hook.

“Let’s be honest with ourselves, the responsibility is on the president. This is war. Any country that tries to poison our water bodies is at war and I expected if for nothing at all to draw a plan; the president meets with parliament in terms of those parliamentarians who in their constituency where this is happening, meet with the Speaker of the House, meet with the judiciary, the media and the CSOs where they will draw up a plan of action. Once that plan of action is in place, you bring in the chiefs.

“So that everybody understands what that plan of action is…because definitely as we all know, there are politicians who are involved and nobody can be sparred irrespective of whether you have given me votes or not,” Mr. Jantuah shared.

He further emphasised that the President should be the one leading the fight and not the Attorney General or the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

“This particular issue (galamsey) is destroying our country; it’s destroying water bodies [and] it is destroying the land. So we shouldn’t take it as if it were nothing… we shouldn’t get an OSP or Attorney General to investigate it. It is more than that; it is at the table of the president to make sure that much stronger action is taken. It has gone on for too long,” the former vice president of PIAC added.

President Akufo-Addo just last week had a meeting with the National House of Chiefs where he appealed for support to combat galamsey.

In a subsequent meeting with MMDCEs, the President warned that anyone caught being complicit in illegal mining will not be spared.