Energy analyst and senior member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kojo Poku, has praised former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, describing Operation Vanguard as one of the most effective interventions in the sector.
Speaking in an interview on Wontumi TV/Radio, Poku said the initiative achieved remarkable results within its first year of operation.
“Operation Vanguard was very successful. For almost a whole year, galamsey stopped completely,” he noted.
According to him, the previous government’s genuine commitment to tackling the menace came at a political cost.
He explained that the crackdown, although necessary, was used against the NPP in the build-up to the 2020 general elections.
“In 2019 and 2020, before the elections, the NDC used the government’s crackdown on galamsey as a campaign message against us.
“That led to the loss of many seats around the mining communities because Nana Addo was genuinely fighting galamsey,” Poku stressed.
Operation Vanguard, launched in 2017, was a joint military-police task force deployed to illegal mining hotspots to enforce the government’s ban on galamsey.
