There is no political will by NPP govt to fight galamsey – Segbefia
Former Minister of Health, Alex Segbefia, has accused the government of lacking the political will to nip illegal small scale mining (Galamsey) in the bud.
He says that the galamsey situation has gotten out of hands under the New Patritoc Party (NPP) administration.
He was responding to the Managing Director of the State Transport Company (STC), Nana Akomea who said the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Former President John Dramani Mahama, is making the fight against galamsey difficult.
Nana Akomea stated that while the government was fighting galamsey, the NDC and Mr Mahama, ahead of the 2020 elections, incited the galamseyers against the government by assuring them that if the NDC was voted for, they were going to release all those who had been arrested for galamsey to enable them to return to the practice.
This action of the NDC and Mr Mahama won them votes in the elections, he said.
Speaking on the Big Issue on TV3 Tuesday December 5, regarding the jailing of Chinese national Aisha Huang, Nana Akomea said ” Don’t go there and be telling the people that when they vote for [NDC] you will remove these people from jail to come and do galamsey, when you do that we will not win the fight against galamey.”
He added “All the governments that have come have fought galamsey but we all know the efforts have not yielded the results. We undermine our own fight when you have a party going to incite people against government telling them that ‘when you vote for us all those who have been arrested will be released’.
“When you tell people this you are undermining the fight, it is part of the reasons why we have failed.”
Responding to him, Alex Segbefia said “it was made at the time when Aisha Huan was deported, the historical context was that they had just released Aisah Huang.
“Our position has always been clear, galamsey is illegal but regualised mining is accepted so we must regulate the industry, that has been the official position of the party which was touted by the flagbearer.Galamsey has gotten worse under NPP, there is no political will to fight.”
The High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei-Marfo, on Monday, December 4 sentenced Aisha Huang to four years in prison after being found guilty of engaging in Galamsey.
She was also fined 48,000 Cedis.
The Court ruled that Aisah Huang did not have a license to undertake any mining activities.
3news.com
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