Former Dormaa East MP criticises Mahama over ‘galamsey’ fight

Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Dormaa East, Paul Apraku Twum Barimah, has criticised President John Mahama for failing to fulfil his campaign promise of ending the illegal mining activity, popularly called galamsey.

He has thus advised President Mahama and his ministers to apologise to former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for levelling false allegations against him (Nana Akufo-Addo) as a beneficiary of illegal mining.  

“In the run-up to the December 2024 general election, President Mahama promised to end the galamsey menace in his first 90 days in office but that is yet to happen.

“As I speak to you now, the ‘galamsey’ menace has gone out of control with armed guards moving into forest reserves, attacking and killing officers of the Forestry Commission.

This is not what Ghanaians were promised. Ghanaians were promised an end to ‘galamsey’ but that is not what we are experiencing,” he stated. 

Mr Barimah said former President Akufo-Addo, in his eight-year tenure, fought strongly against illegal mining to the point that the NPP lost votes in mining areas and mining communities in the 2020 and 2024 general elections.  

He said President Akufo-Addo never got any support from Mahama and the NDC in his fight against illegal mining at the time to tackle the menace.

“The NDC rather protested against the NPP government and succeeded in making it unpopular among Ghanaians. Today, their members are deeply engaged in ‘galamsey’ and destroying our forest reserves,” he alleged.

“Since President Mahama and his government have not been able to end ‘galamsey’ in three months as they promised, they need to apologise to former President Akufo-Addo.

“President Mahama and Sam George denigrated former President Akufo-Addo and even accused him of being complicit and a beneficiary of ‘galamsey’.

“Today, it has become obvious that former President Akufo-Addo is not complicit and also not a beneficiary of illegal mining, so they have to apologise to Nana Akufo-Addo,” Mr Barimah added.