The opposition NPP’s Director of Communications, Richard Ahiagbah, has blamed what he calls “galamsey politics” for his party’s defeat in the Akwatia by-election.
He is accusing the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) of deliberately exploiting illegal mining sentiments to sway voters.
“It was not the result we anticipated, the efforts we put in. We thought that would have won that election. As it is, a lot of things have happened, some of which I’m sure we’ll discuss, and you have seen our petition to the IGP in the nature of the violence that happened there.
“So a lot of factors played a role in our loss, but we have embraced the result, and we demand that certain actions be taken,” Ahiagbah said on Joy News after the polls.
He argued that the NDC’s top officials, including the party’s national chairman, resorted to a coded campaign message that appealed to illegal miners in the constituency.
“Yeah, I mean, practically, you saw the campaign itself was recourse, some very inflammatory languages were used.
“If you talk about what the national chairman of the NDC, Sofo Azorka, came there in a rather coded way, talking about how it is that the power belongs to the NDC, technically, and so therefore are able to do whatever it is, including being able to seize and reallocate the [mining] concessions belonging to our candidate.”
For him, that strategy sent a dangerous signal in a community where illegal mining is widespread.
“That’s a way of, you know, appealing to galamseyers, which we know that a lot of galamsey goes on in Akwatia.
“The effort is to streamline it, make sure it’s legal, but then, in its present form, it’s injurious to all of us in our society. But then they found a way to leverage that.”
Ahiagbah further accused the NDC’s national organiser of going even further to incite action against the government’s mining policy.
“I think the national organiser was in the constituency in a rather uncharacteristic manner, calling on the President to seize all operations.”
With the NPP reeling from the narrow loss, Mr Ahiagbah insisted that while the party has accepted the outcome, it will continue to press for accountability over the incidents that marred the contest and for a deeper reflection on the forces that shaped the result.
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