The President Pretends to fight Galamsey – CeSIS

The Executive Director for the Centre for Social and Impact Studies (CeSIS), Richard Kwadwo Elimah has criticized the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for purportedly feigning efforts to combat galamsey and alleged that government officials are benefiting from illegal mining activities.

“In Ghana, everyone is pretending to fight galamsey. We have been staging a show for the camera. The president, ministers, chiefs, and other government officials are all pretending to fight galamsey. They are benefitting from the illegal mining activities,” said the CeSIS boss.

In an interview on Nkwantannanso on May 19 , he emphasized the need to target the “big fish” in the galamsey industry, referring to the owners of the mining sites, rather than focusing on the “boys” who are unemployed youth. He believes that arresting the “boys” will not effectively address the issue.

“We should be looking at the party executives because they have pits. Catching the big fish will send a strong signal,” he added.

Mr Elimah expressed concern about the perception that there is no hope for galamsey to be eradicated due to the government’s approach to tackling the issue.

“It’s like Ghanaians have accepted that there is no hope for galamsey to stop because of how the government is tackling it,” he lamented.

He also called for accountability among the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and urged the government to hold them responsible.

“We can’t leave out the MMDCEs because they have a monitoring role. Even before any mining activity starts, notices are placed at the various offices of the Assembly and other places,” he explained.

Drawing a parallel to Otumfuo’s accountability measures with chiefs in the Amansie area, he emphasized the importance of the government holding MMDCEs accountable in the fight against galamsey.