The Member of Parliament for Buem, Kofi Iddie Adams, has said it is his wish that President Akufo-Addo had not made the statement which says he was ready to put his job on the line to fight illegal mining.
As part of his commitment to fighting illegal mining which is also known as ‘galamsey’, the President promised to put his job on the line to end the canker.
However, the galamsey problem has been on the rise with the devastation on water bodies intensified, few months to the end of Akufo-Addo’s second term.
The development, is what the Member of Parliament for Buem says is due to the comments the President made.
According to him, members close to the realm of the administration have refused to admit that galamsey is wreaking havoc on the environment, a fact they believe will put the presidency to question due to the statement Akufo-Addo made about illegal mining.
Speaking on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, September 07, 2024, Kofi Adams indicated that the fight against the canker could have been better off if the President had not made that commitment to Ghanaians.
“You have played the voice of the President about prepared to put his job on the line and that he’s said so on cabinet meetings before and that was the first time he was saying it publicly.
“How I wish the President didn’t make that statement publicly” he said, explaining that “because following that statement, all his appointees and apparatchiks have worked tirelessly to deny the existence of galamsey and that they are destroying our water bodies and forest because they want to make us believe that the President is still having his job because there is no galamsey so even if there was, they are trying to tell you it is not there because if they had said that it was there, the President’s job must be on the line.”
The rising numbers in galamsey matters and its accompanying effects has forced some joint health sector unions to call on the government to immediately ban all small-scale mining activities in the country.
In a joint statement, the leadership of these unions emphasized the critical need for the government to bolster regulatory and enforcement agencies to effectively combat the galamsey menace.
The public sector health associations and unions, including the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, Health Services Workers Union, Ghana Medical Association, Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association, Medical Laboratory Professional Workers Union, Mortuary Workers Association of Ghana, Ghana Association of Certified Anesthetists, Health Accounting Staff Association, and the Ghana Physician Assistant Association, have expressed grave concerns over the detrimental impact of galamsey on water bodies.
“The Ghana Water Company recently reported a reduction in water production by over 60% in the Western Region, 30% in the Central Region, with a total loss of 50% of treated water due to pollution and silting from galamsey activities,” the statement highlighted.
The union leaders are demanding swift government action to protect the nation’s water resources.
“As associations and trade unions in the health sector, holding collective bargaining agreements on behalf of health sector employees, we demand that the government immediately bans all small-scale mining operations,” the statement read.
They further urged the government to strengthen regulatory enforcement by providing resources to relevant security agencies to clamp down on violators and ensure swift prosecution.
