Investigative journalist, Manasseh Azuri Awuni has asked the opposition National Democratic Congress not to seek political capital with respect to the issue of galamsey which is having dire effects on several water bodies in the country.
Activities of illegal miners have recently seen an upsurge and some members of the NDC have accused the government of Nana Akufo-Addo of failing to live up to his promise to end galamsey and its effects despite spending more than four years in office.
Reacting to the NDC’s bashing of the President, Manasseh in a Facebook post sighted by GhanaWeb accused the NDC of failing to deal with galamsey during the era of former President John Dramani Mahama and described their current position as shameful, saying the NDC as part of its 2020 election campaign promises said it would promote galamsey if they won power.
“Akufo-Addo is the president, so it’s normal that we hold him accountable for the current galamsey menace. However, the opposition NDC should not seek political capital in this mess. The NDC failed to curb it under Mahama, and in the 2020 election, some NDC leaders told some ‘galamseyers’ that the party would promote galamsey if it won. That’s shameful!” he posted.
Following his post, some NDC faithful took to his comment section to accuse him of making a baseless claim against the party.
He subsequently shared a video to prove his point and in the said video, some NDC officials who are seen interacting with miners at a galamsey site during the 2020 campaign period, urged the miners to vote for the comeback of former President John Dramani Mahama whiles emphatically stating that an NDC government would ensure their activities are not disturbed.
“I used to do galamsey, and let me say that if by God’s grace you vote for John Dramani Mahama and vote for Abubakar Sadiq, and you hear that John Mahama and Abubakar have won, shame me if a soldier comes to stop you from working in 2021,” one of the officials in the video is heard saying.
Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akofu-Addo on Wednesday commissioned a 200 military men operation team to stop illegal mining across the country.
This comes after the President in his first term commissioned a similar mission dubbed Operation Vanguard. Despite its many controversies, the government on several occasions has touted Operation Vanguard as largely successful.
