Galamsey Menace: Akufo-Addo Makes Passionate Appeal To Chiefs To Support Government’s Efforts To Fight It

• President Akufo-Addo has rallied chiefs in the country to help support the government’s fight against illegal mining
• The President, who engaged the National House of Chiefs as part of stakeholder engagements to find lasting solutions to the menace, said it is a national battle
• He also called on Ghanaians to desist from politicizing the fight against the illegal mining menace

Support the government’s effort to deal with the illegal mining menace. That’s the clarion call from President Nana Akufo-Addo to the National House of Chiefs.

According to him, the fight against the menace will only be won if the country adopts a nationalistic approach.

Speaking at an engagement with the National House of Chiefs at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, the President said the fight against galamsey can be won if it is not politicized.

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“….take partisan political interests out of the fight against galamsey. It can only succeed if it is a truly national battle, which no one seeks to exploit for political gain, as we saw in the last election,” he said.

The President also urged the Chiefs to do all in their power to help take partisanship out of the galamsey fight, which he said must precede all other interests.

Galamsey Fight: Akufo-Addo Engages MMDCEs, National House Of Chiefs

As the country steps up the fight against the illegal mining menace, President Akufo-Addo has embarked on a stakeholder consultation to engage traditional leaders as well as the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives in the ninety areas where the canker is rife.

Despite measures put in place to fight galamsey, including a military and police task force, the efforts appear not to be yielding the desired results culminating in the engagement by President Akufo-Addo.

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Water bodies in the country have now taken a ‘chocolate’ look due in part to the heavy pollutants like cyanide and mercury used by the illegal miners to extract the gold.

This has rendered the water bodies useless as no sign of life currently exists in several of the heavily polluted ones.

The environment has also not been spared the destruction leading to degraded forest covers and poisoned foods grown in the predominant galamsey areas.

Several CSOs, pressure groups and the ordinary Ghanaian who have questioned the government’s approach to addressing the menace have called for a state of emergency to be introduced in some of the badly affected communities.

Call Out People Who Engage In Galamsey Since You Know Them – Otumfuo To Government

Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, had called on stakeholders to be truthful in the fight against illegal small-scale mining in the country.

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Galamsey has become an albatross on my head - Asantehene laments

Otumfuo Osei-Tutu said the government should muster the courage to call out people involved in the act since they are known.

Source: YEN.com.gh