As the 2024 general elections approach, illegal small-scale mining, commonly known as galamsey, continues to dominate discussions, with its negative impact on Ghana’s environment and natural resources being a top concern for voters.
Dennis Miracles Aboagye, the Communications Director for the campaign of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, has called on Ghanaians to back Bawumia in the upcoming election. In a Facebook post on September 4, 2024, Aboagye stressed that Bawumia has outlined “clear plans” to address the galamsey menace, positioning him as the candidate best equipped to tackle the issue.
Aboagye also took aim at the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), accusing them of exacerbating the galamsey crisis. “It has become evidently clear that one of the key enablers of the galamsey menace in Ghana is the NDC,” he claimed, adding that NDC members frequently visit galamsey sites, encouraging illegal miners with promises of protection if they win power.
The NPP communicator further alleged that these actions by the NDC make it difficult to combat galamsey effectively. “When they continue to assure them to vote for them so they will come to government to protect them and allow them to continue the galamsey, it makes it difficult,” he stated.
According to Aboagye, Bawumia’s strategy to address galamsey includes the creation of a Minerals Development Bank to finance legal miners, decentralizing mining licenses, providing geological data, expanding community mining schemes, and supplying safer mining equipment to miners.
He urged Ghanaians to reject the NDC, describing them as “dishonest and insincere” with no clear plan to combat illegal mining.
