Nii Lante Vanderpuye has issued a passionate call for a national crackdown on illegal mining (galamsey), following the tragic military helicopter crash that claimed the lives of eight prominent Ghanaians, including two cabinet ministers.
Coordinator of the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) linked the mission of the late officials to the fight against environmental degradation caused by galamsey, urging the country to honour their sacrifice with decisive action.
“For the lives of these people, I would say we should go all out and finish these galamsey people,” he said at a solemn flower-laying ceremony on Friday, August 8, Vanderpuye
“These people have sacrificed their lives for the sake of ending galamsey. If they’ve made that sacrifice for us as a country, we have no excuse but to end galamsey.”
He did not hold back in expressing his frustration over the continuing menace of illegal mining. “I wish I had the authority; it would be war,” Vanderpuye declared. “We can’t lose these people and still allow others to remain in the forests and rivers, destroying our environment.”
The crash, which occurred in the Adansi Akrofuom District of the Ashanti Region, claimed the lives of Defence Minister Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, Environment Minister Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, and six others.
The team was reportedly on an assignment related to environmental protection at the time of the incident.
