A leading member of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Kwame Jantuah, has called for the immediate exposure of any politician found to be involved in illegal small-scale mining, popularly known as galamsey.
He said the fight against galamsey must be non-negotiable and devoid of partisanship, stressing that political actors fueling the menace must not be shielded.
“Let’s all put our hands together. If it’s NDC, NPP, CPP, PNC—any politician found to be part and parcel of this thing should be exposed. We cannot destroy our country. We have nowhere else to go,” he said.
Speaking in an interview on Accra-based GHOne TV on Tuesday, April 22, the CPP stalwart urged the government to take a tougher stance by withdrawing the licenses of any mining firm, legal or illegal, found to be complicit like Akonta Mining.
“Any legal mining firm, the official ones, if they are supporting galamsey in our forest reserves, withdraw their license—because they have no good intention,” he said.
He lamented the environmental toll of illegal mining and how it is worsening water scarcity in many parts of Ghana.
“Our water bodies are polluted nowadays. You don’t even get water in our homes. Water is shut three days, four days in a week—and that is a recipe for disaster,” Mr. Jantuah lamented.
He also urged all political leaders, including former President Nana Akufo-Addo, to lend their support to the ongoing efforts to curb the menace.