The South African Council of Elders Chair for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Benjamin Kofi Quashie, has waded in the galamsey menace bedeviling the state, stating that all known NDC members found culpable regarding galamsey activities must be dealt with according to the law.
In a panel discussion on Joy Prime Newspaper review on Monday, 24th March, 2025, Mr. Quashie dismissed the notion that all known NDC bigwigs are involved in galamsey. He highlighted that the NDC won the elections based on a manifesto, stressing that “we cannot take the Ghanaian people for granted. We can’t,” Mr. Quashie stressed, underscoring that allowing such a menace to persist would ridicule all those who believed the NDC would solve the illegal mining problem confronting the country.
The above notwithstanding, the SA NDC Council Chair emphasized the health ramifications associated with illegal mining, coupled with the wanton destruction of our environment, which in his view is something that cannot be countenanced moving forward.
“We cannot sit aloof and watch the destruction of our forest reserves for some people’s parochial gain; President Mahama has shown leadership, and the fight against galamsey would be tackled head-on,” he stated.
In reacting to comments from the NPP, urging President Mahama to get serious with the galamsey fight, Mr. Quashie averred that President Mahama’s leadership within these few months outweighs the entire eight years of President Akufo-Addo. He reminded the NPP of President Akufo-Addo’s pledge to put his presidency on the line to win the galamsey fight, “what happened?”, he rhetorically quizzed.
According to him, when most Ghanaians were complaining about Akonta Mines’ destruction of our forest cover, President Akufo-Addo defended them, suggesting they were mining legally.
“There is a clear difference between the two leaders; one who says and does, and the other who says and does not,” Mr. Quashie noted. He underscored the fact that the NDC cannot lose the fight against galamsey; that is an impossibility that cannot be countenanced under the NDC administration.
Dovetailing on security challenges suffered by journalists covering the galamsey fight, the NDC SA Council Chair intimated that the era of impunity and gagging journalists are over and gone. President Mahama is not interested in gagging any journalist from reporting on galamsey issues. Quashie revealed that in recent times he has read “Erastus Asare’s post that the fight against galamsey is going well; we still haven’t gotten there yet, but it is better than before”, he affirmed.
Again, he shared that Erastus Asare has commended the government for the openness with which they are tackling the galamsey fight, which was hitherto missing in the previous government’s era.
To this, he praised President Mahama’s openness as the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, promising that his government would not gag any journalist.
“The fight against galamsey is a collaborative one”, he noted, suggesting, “the minister in charge of Environment would need to seek information from journalists where necessary”.
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