The Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etsi Kwami Dafeamekpor, has said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has failed in its fight against illegal mining due to the active involvement of its apparatchiks.
Mr. Dafeamekpor has alleged that about 95% of persons involved in the act which is also known as ‘galamsey’, are affiliated to the ruling party.
His allegations, he noted, is due to the failure of the administration to enforce any of the policies it launched to fight the canker, including Operation Halt, Galamstop, Operation Vangard and others.
The MP, on TV3’s KeyPoints Saturday, June 15, 2024, averred the galamsey fight has become a fiasco because the culprits of the act have left the government between the “rock and hard place.”
“If you have a government that came up with a policy on community mining and launched that with a huge fun fair, only for that programme to deteriorate, into what we call unbridled scoping and degradation of our green environment and the government has become so helpless because about 95% of the participants or the people who are involved in degrading our green cover and scoping our raw earth and polluting our water bodies are persons closely affiliated to the ruling party, then you can appreciate the difficulty that government has in dealing with that with this matter,” he alleged.
“So it has become a very complex environmental and developmental problem for the government because they are caught between a rock and a hard place because the people involved are their people,” he indicated.
Mr. Dafeamekpor’s comments was in relation to a viral video where a parliamentary candidate is urging constituents to attack the military if they attempt stopping them from indulging in illegal mining.
Background
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Amenfi East, Ernest Frimpong, urged illegal miners locally referred to as ‘galamseyers’ to resist any attempt by the military or any security officer to stop them from doing their work.
Mr. Frimpong says neither the military nor any security operative currently wields the power to stop anyone from engaging in illegal mining.
“We have cancelled Operation Galamstop and the soldiers who have been tormenting you. So, officially, they don’t have any mandate to do that again,” the Amenfi East PC had stated.
He asked his constituents to fight back the officers whenever they make any attempts to intimidate them since they have no such authority anymore.
In a video going viral on social media, the parliamentary candidate, together with the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, and the MCE, is found engaging some galamseyers where Mr. Frimpong told them that nobody can infringe on their right to mine.
He advised the illegal miners to treat soldiers who are on a patrol well, admonishing them to even give them tips if they so wish. However, if there is any that wants to seize their equipment and stop them for the mere fact that he is security officer, they should fight him and he will be there to defend them.
“But if anyone comes and orders you out for the mere purpose that he is a soldier, do not look at the uniform he is wearing, if he hits you, hit him back, fight him and I will come there. Oh yes, we won’t tolerate those things.
“If he came on a patrol, then he is passing by, and that is why we are telling you that we have revoked the authority they had to arrest you. If you are doing illegal and he comes to arrest you, he is also doing illegal so arrest him back,” he admonished.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Armed Forces has since issued a statement to that effect, but did not address it directly to the person in the video, which many have criticised.
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