The Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Policies and Research, Kwadwo Nsafoah Poku, has dismissed the government’s latest anti-galamsey initiative, the Blue Water Guards, predicting it will fail just as previous military operations did.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, Poku argued that deploying civilians in T-shirts would not succeed where 400 soldiers had already failed.
“Even their new Blue Water Guards will not succeed, because if 400 soldiers couldn’t stop the destruction of our rivers, people in T-shirts won’t either,” he said.
Poku explained that the failure to provide alternative livelihoods for mining communities has fueled resistance to government interventions.
“The mining communities were crying that, look, that’s our livelihood. They are not getting money. People kept saying there was a cascading effect, and traders and others in those areas all suffered,” he noted.
According to him, this frustration directly affected electoral outcomes in mining areas.
“In places like Juaboso, where there were 54 polling stations, the NPP lost all of them. We also lost Upper Denkyira West, a seat we had always held, because the galamsey people were going around giving people money to vote against us,” he recounted.
He added that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) capitalised on the discontent by promising to allow mining activities to continue.
“The NDC told the people, vote for us, and we will not stop your mining. That carried forward into 2024,” Poku said.
Criticising the Mahama administration, Poku argued that promises made on galamsey in their manifesto have not been honoured.
“In nine months of the Mahama administration, none of the promises in their manifesto on galamsey have been fulfilled. The only thing they have implemented is the GoldBod,” he observed.
Poku maintained that unless government policies balance environmental protection with economic realities in mining communities, new measures like the Blue Water Guards will remain ineffective.
