Akufo-Addo still committed to galamsey fight – Gideon Boako

A spokesperson for the Vice President, Gideon Boako, says President Akufo-Addo has not reneged on his promise to fight illegal mining, popularly referred to as galamsey.

His comment was in response to concerns raised by the members of a social media movement, #FixTheCountry, over what they describe as government's mismanagement of various sectors of the economy.

“The fight against illegal mining is a process and not an event. You saw the commitment by the President and his government at the initiation of the fight against illegal mining. It was fought to a certain level. People expressed misgivings.”

“People were not happy with the complaints. The mandate of the President has been renewed. The President has not reneged on his promise and pledge. The President has shown an increasingly renewed commitment to still fight it [illegal mining],” Mr. Boako said.

The group had said power outages, galamsey, unemployment, and poor healthcare systems show how various governments had mismanaged the economy.

Mr. Boako on Eyewitness News, however, stressed that while it is necessary for disgruntled Ghanaians to express frustrations about the current economic challenges, they ought to also highlight the viable initiatives introduced by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).

“People have experienced some levels of hardship and there is an appreciation that the level of hardship is not the making of just one government. It is a collective thing. As we talk about these things, it is also important that we take stock of where we have come from and where we are today so that we can have a proper appreciation of the issues.”

“These are the strengths of us as a nation and efforts that have been put in place to reduce the sufferings of the people. We just want to keep in mind that as we recount our problems, there are equally good successes that we have chalked.”

‘We’ve been fixing Ghana’s problems

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has also indicated in a Facebook post that the governing NPP has shown commitment to improving the living conditions of Ghanaians since coming into power in 2017.

Mr. Bawumia said although the COVID-19 pandemic had caused increases in prices of commodities such as oil, cement, and iron rods, the government's performance had been outstanding.

“We are four months into our [second] four-year mandate. The job of the government is to fix problems. This is what we have been doing since 2017. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down the global economy and caused increases in prices of commodities such as oil, cement and iron rods as well as the overall cost of shipping.”

“Nevertheless, it is very important to place the performance of our government over the last four years after inheriting an economy with 'no meat on the bone' on record. Ours is a government that listens and cares. The facts and data speak for themselves,” Dr. Bawumia said.

—citinewsroom