The President of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Eric K. K. Avabare, has issued a stinging rebuke of Ghana’s two leading political parties, accusing both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of failing citizens in the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.
Professor Avabare said the NPP’s sudden concern about galamsey was disingenuous, given the party’s past record.
“I am surprised the NPP suddenly appears concerned about the galamsey menace, but they were terribly worse than the devil himself. They passed the mining law LI 2462, oversaw the building of chanfangs, and issued more mining licenses than all previous administrations combined since independence,” he wrote on Facebook.
The academic did not spare the NDC either, insisting that both parties had proven unfit to protect Ghana’s natural resources.
“These two destructive parties have destroyed Ghana in a literal sense because they are clueless about what they are doing. I blame Ghanaians squarely for knowing what they know about these two parties and still queuing to vote for them, while drinking poisoned water,” he added.
Professor Avabare also recalled how former President John Dramani Mahama failed to take decisive action on the matter despite publicly acknowledging its gravity.
“President JDM looked into the eyes of Ghanaians and told them they had short memories, and yet when he returned promising to solve galamsey, they voted for him again. Instead, he gave weak excuses for why he could not stop the destruction of water bodies, forest reserves, and farmlands,” he said.
He further criticized the perceived passivity of Ghanaians in holding leaders accountable.
“The citizens of a serious country like Kenya would have engaged in civil disobedience right away! The inertness of the Ghanaian makes them complicit in this destruction because they also benefit from it,” he declared.
