Galamsey: Gov’t clearly has no political will to save, prevent all of us from dying – Prof. Ransford Gyampo

Senior political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Ransford Gyampo has kicked against the meeting called by government to engage Organised Labour over their concerns on illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

According to him, there is no point in honouring the meeting when government has shown that it has no political will to address galamsey to prevent it from killing the citizenry.

“Just see below, water from Birim River as of yesterday 14th September, 2024. Yet they still have marshalled the guts to call Organized Labor to a meeting to talk about what???

“We won’t honour any invitation. The demands are simple. Government clearly has no political will to save or prevent all of us from dying. So we would fight to save ourselves,” Prof. Ransford Gyampo said in a post on Facebook.

Last week, Organised Labour issued a release demanding immediate action from government to stop illegal mining or it will embark on various industrial actions including a nationwide strike.

In his post on Sunday, Prof. Ransford Gyampo reiterated that what Organised Labour wants from government is a declaration of a state of emergency.

He said Organised Labour also wants government to place a moratorium on all mining, whether legal or illegal before any conversation will happen.

“There’s no need for any meeting. The message of Organized Labor is clear. Government has up to the end of this month to act, else we would shut down the entire public sector. It is that simple,” Prof. Ransford Gyampo said.