Lands and Natural Resources Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has explained why the government can’t declare a state of emergency in areas where illegal mining is taking place.
Prior to the 2024 elections, the National Democratic Congress joined the likes of Imani Africa’s Franklin Cudjoe, Ken Ashigbey who leads the media coalition against galamsey, GUTA, Catholic Priests who called for a state of emergency to be declared in areas where mining was taking place.
However, after 79 days in office, the same people have refused to declare a state of emergency in these areas.
Speaking in an interview with Accra-based Channel 1 Television, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah explained that “we are treating the matter as an emergency matter. I just told you and we are working on the clock, 24hrs a day. The thing is that in a free society, even when there is crisis you try to solve it without creating fear and panic.
We are already doing it. How did we, in less than a month, reverse 7 reds to yellow? I’m just simply telling you that we have decided that these matters are of grave importance and they are matters that must be dealt with with all the emergency that it deserve,” he said.
He continued, “The president is treating this matter as a top priority. The president wants to make sure the people of Ghana can be assured that he is on top of this thing. He is dealing with the issue, and we are making progress”.
Adding that “what we don’t want to do is to is to do a six’ o’clock announcement and tell the people of Ghana that a curfew has been declared. There is no curfew in the whole of Ghana and there is a lot of things at play. As the Minister of lands and Resources I can tell the people of Ghana that we are dealing with this matter with all the sense of urgency and they can be assured that we will win this fight”.
