The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has claimed vindication after former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, authored a report accusing some high-ranking officials of the Akufo-Addo government of interference in the fight against illegal small-scale mining, or being engaged in galamsey.
The party’s Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, addressed the media at the NDC headquarters, stating that the galamsey trade was bound to flourish under the NPP government. Gyamfi claimed that galamsey was the central source for illegal gold purchases that were being used in a complex money laundering scheme uncovered by Al Jazeera.
According to Gyamfi, President Akufo-Addo’s claim to fight galamsey was a sham, and the report from Frimpong-Boateng only confirmed the NDC’s long-held opinion. The party alleged that there has never been any genuine commitment or attempt to fight galamsey by the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government.
Gyamfi further claimed that the fight against galamsey was a charade calculated to allow top government and NPP officials to appropriate and take over the illicit galamsey trading.
All in all, the NDC claims that the report authored by Frimpong-Boateng has vindicated its claim that the government has not been genuinely committed to the fight against galamsey, and that the so-called fight was a calculated attempt by top government and NPP officials to appropriate and take over the illegal mining trade. The NDC called for genuine efforts to be made to clamp down on the galamsey menace to protect the country’s natural resources and safeguard the health of its citizens.