Deputy Director of Elections and IT for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Rashid Tanko-Computer, has taken a strong swipe at the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration under former President Nana Akufo-Addo, accusing it of deliberately failing to act on key reports that could have curtailed illegal mining (galamsey).
Speaking on the maiden edition of Prime Insight on Joy Prime, Saturday, August 16, Tanko-Computer recalled how reports on the work of committees set up to fight galamsey were simply ignored by the presidency.
“When the minister wrote a fine report about the activities of that committee on galamsey, what did they do? So at that time, if the presidency was committed and made sure that those activities they were involved in ended at that level, we wouldn’t be where we are,” he stated.
According to him, the government’s failure to act allowed the menace to grow worse, with dire consequences for the nation’s forests and water bodies.
Tanko-Computer further revealed that the current administration is taking decisive steps to reverse the damage, starting with new legal reforms.
“Initially we thought we could just amend the part that allowed the president to give permits for mining in forest areas. But others said, no, let’s repeal the whole act and come with a new one. The Attorney-General has worked on it, and the bill is ready. We are going to remove it,” he disclosed.
He also revisited the tragic deaths of eight security personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty while tackling galamsey.
“When those eight gallant men died, they were in the process of trying to resolve galamsey because we were going to launch a programme known as Responsible Mining,” he recounted solemnly.
