The Reasons The Criminal Liability For Illegal Mining In Ghana Failed

The president of Ghana, Akufo-Addo, signed an order strengthening the penalties for mining-related offenses as part of the government's effort to combat the practice. The Criminal Code of Ghana was revised on August 20, 2019, making it more difficult for anybody to mine illegally for minerals, metals, precious stones, and mineral resources, on Ghanaian territory, its territorial waters, and its continental shelf. The maximum term of imprisonment under the punishment was raised from ten to fifteen years.

The severity of the punishments meted out to the criminals may also depend on how much environmental damage was assessed. Furthermore, according to the newly proposed modifications, mining would be criminalized on a qualifying basis, as will commercial and associated actions involving the material and technical support of private and legal entities participating in the extraction of unlawful minerals. Still, foreigners, especially Chinese, as well as Ghanaians participated in the illegal trade.

In Ghana, a saying goes, "If someone is pulling a robe and it stops at the end, something is holding on to it." Since those in high government positions are behind illicit mining and other corruptible criminalities, the war against it has been more of an illusion than a reality. It is depressing that those who criticized the previous government and accused them of corruption and incompetence would rather come to destroy every infrastructure that was performing well under those they accused.

A genuine government should be capable of taking accountability. The NPP government shouldn’t have waited for the people's complaints about the effects of illegal mining on their lives, the environment, and the premature birth of malformed children by mothers before they start to do something about it. The fact that key figures of the government are behind the illicit mining; the government ignored its responsibility, choosing corruption over the welfare of the suffering masses.

The politician who pledged to sacrifice his job to combat illicit mining to win power turned out to be a failure, as evidenced by the fact that under his administration, activity levels rose above those of the previous one. Therefore, the rumors and accusations that the president and several NPP politicians are actively involved in illegal mining are not exaggerated. They are accurate. When the president defended Bernard Antwi Bosiako and asserted that he was not an illegal miner, exposed more of Akufo Addo.

Akufo Addo's role in the illegal gold trade was revealed by Aljazeera's media inquiry; this is a factual story, yet, the president denied the claim and threatened the media to remove the story. Al Jazeera additionally made clear the global nature of these crimes, gold smuggled from one country may wind up as cash deposited in offshore accounts of front companies halfway across the world, and exposed the investigation into the largest gold and money laundering operations in Southern Africa.

Akufo Addo has appointed the highest number of judges to the Supreme Court because he has always intended to conceal his criminal past. Even though Ghana has been irreversibly ruined, the NPP government, tribal media, and writers choose to malign Mahama by calling him a drunk and corrupt, instead of providing any advice or words to help turn things around. Meanwhile, Mahama possesses greater intelligence to develop the nation, including the party's bastion in the Ashanti Region.

The fact that Akufo Addo says he wouldn't hand over power to maintain his excellent policies and hard work, is something that perplexes me, considering his administration has caused the collapse of the economy, businesses, and investments. Any rational individual would be able to infer from this that Akufo Addo is mentally ill. He is more interested in using Jean Mensa to rig the election, as he previously did, to let Bawumia further the Agyapadie philosophy which has ruined both the nation and the people.

When a politician is bright and wants to impress the people to win an election, the most important thing is to let the public know what they can do, and how they care about them; but not to accuse the opposition of being drunk, loves women, and other absurdities. After all, the person earning the label is smarter than all the NPP politicians combined, and in just four years, had accomplished more than Akufo Addo and Bawumia did in eight years, amid unaccountable massive public debt of GHC 771 billion.

Through this platform, I will implore Ghanaians to stop attributing the collapse of the country's economy, businesses, and investments only to Akufo Addo, the vice president, Mahamudu Bawumia, is also included and responsible for the failure to fight corruption and illicit mining. If Ghana's judiciary is not corrupt and not serving Akufo Addo alone, he should have been impeached. Ghanaians need to understand why there has been an increase in crime with impunity under this regime.

On the other hand, it should be a top priority for a new administration to arrest and prosecute senior government figures responsible for illicit mining. By taking such legal action, the European Union may be persuaded that the Ghanaian government is sincere in its efforts to combat illicit mining, which may decide to purchase Ghana’s cocoa, and, more importantly, avoid the threat of hunger.