There is nothing Akufo-Addo can do to salvage galamsey damages – Nii Lante Vanderpuije

The Ranking Member on the Local Government and Rural Development Select Committee of Parliament Nii Lante Vanderpuije has expressed indignations at the calls by President Nana Akufo-Addo for a new initiative to be adopted in the fight against galamsey in the country.

President Nana Addo Dankwaa Akufo-Addo at the meeting with Chiefs and some Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to find new ways to deal with the galamsey menace at the Manhyia Palace in the Ashanti Region on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, said: “We have tried many initiatives in the fight against galamsey, still we have not won the fight against galamsey in the country.”

According to the Ranking Member, considering the plundering that has occurred, “I don’t think there is something the President can do in the next two years to salvage the galamsey menace.”

The National Democratic Congress’ Member of Parliament for Ododododiodio Constituency in the Greater Accra Region expressed these doubts speaking on the 505 evening news analysis programme on Class 91.3 FM hosted by Korku Lumor.

He noted on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, interview that there are so many laws like the mining regulations and mining acts to deal with the galamsey situation.

He said the President with his cohorts designed many of these initiatives to cause these devastations to the country's forest cover and water bodies.

He argued that the President’s warning that he was not going to shield anybody in the renewed fight against galamsey was a charade because he had already shielded enough in the fight.

“Hasn’t the President shielded the former Minister for Science and Technology, Prof Frimpong Boateng, under whose watchful eyes some five hundred excavators flew into thin air?” he questioned.

He again asserted that the likes of Charles Bissiw, the former General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), and John Boadu are still walking free despite their roles in the galamsey menace.

He maintained that there is a tall list of party people who have been shielded in the fight against galamsey.

According to him, it is too late for the President to turn things around because of the levels of devastation caused by the illegal miners.

He said the failure of the President to sustain the fight against galamsey was a situation of sheer incompetence, complicity, unwillingness and dishonesty.

“This government cannot do anything to compensate for the loss because of galamsey,” he said.

Source: Classfmonline.com