Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, Sam Nartey George, has described as “unfair” the expectation that President John Mahama should have resolved the country’s illegal mining challenge—commonly known as galamsey—within just 96 days of returning to office.
In an interview on Channel One TV on Monday, April 14, Mr George said although efforts are underway to curb the menace, it is unrealistic to expect a complete solution to a problem that has existed for nearly a decade.
He argued that it was unreasonable to expect President Mahama to fix such a complex issue in a matter of weeks, especially when the previous administration, led by Nana Akufo-Addo, had eight years but failed to resolve it.
Responding to criticism over his past comments on galamsey, Mr George addressed remarks he made during Akufo-Addo’s presidency, in which he said, “the President at the time, (former President Akufo-Addo) could have dealt with galamsey in a week because he was Commander-in-Chief.”
Clarifying the context, he stated:
“When I made those comments about President Akufo-Addo, I didn’t make those comments at the beginning of his term. I made those comments about three months to the end of his term and he had the opportunity, he had expended taxpayers’ money in Operation Vanguard and you rather seen instances of the people who were supposed to fight this, becoming complicit in it. At the time I made that criticism of President Akufo-Addo, he had had the benefit of almost eight years in office, a full grasp of the state machinery, had the opportunity to take action.”
Mr George also pointed to progress made under President Mahama in just two months, revealing that seven forest reserves had already been recovered from illegal miners.
“Can we do more? Absolutely. Do I expect to see more? Certainly. But again, like I said, it will be unfair to expect that in 90 days, one man will clean the mess of another for eight years,” he said.
The Minister emphasised that illegal mining remains a serious offence and must be addressed regardless of political affiliation.
He concluded by saying that he considers galamsey a crime against humanity and stressed the need for a non-partisan, collective approach to eradicating it, regardless of which party is in government or who is involved.
