The Deputy Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah,is asking the opposition NDC to desist from doing partisan politics in the fight against illegal mining.
Mr. Bempah blamed the NDC for failing to pull the plug on Galamsay but rather enabled it and watch it fester badly.
According to him, it would be wiser for the NDC to proceed gently in the galamsey conversation because their track record in the galamsey menace is “horrible” compared to any political party.
His comments follow claims made by the National Communications Officer for NDC, Sammy Gyamfi at a press conference on Thursday, October 6, 2022, that Chairman Wontumi and Charles Bissue among some members of the NPP and government are behind galamsey in the country.
Sammy Gyamfi described the measures and strategies put in place by the Akufo-Addo government to fight galamsey as a clear deception and indicated that the administration has failed woefully in the fight against galamsey.
To that end, Sammy Gyamfi threatened that the next NDC government would not hesitate to prosecute all persons within the NPP who are allegedly involved in the galamsey practices.
Hearing Sammy Gyamfi’s rhetorical statement, Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah, said he wondered if the NDC as a political organisation would ever get serious in this country.
In his view, the “impertinence of Sammy Gyamfi, and the litany of claims by the NDC is expected” and labeled the NDC’s conduct as “the pot calling the kettle black because their track record in the galamsey menace is horrible.”
“It is a no brainer situation, but then, the NDC appears to have no brains or conscience – we are talking about a party that shamelessly launched the Youth in Small Scale Mining programme in the Eastern Region, which apparently opened the floodgate for galamsey.
“Yes, the NDC had the opportunity to pull the plug on Galamsay but they rather enabled it and watch it festered badly.
“Of course, the galamsey situation got so bad under Mahama in 2015, such that he had to hang his shame on the people of Kyebi, tagging the place as the headquarters of Galamsay in the country.
“Weirdly, Mahama ate the humble pie a few days later and rendered an unqualified apology to the people of Kyebi for describing the town as the headquarters of galamsey in the country when he was dared by the Okyenhene to back his spurious claims with incontrovertible evidence,” he recalled.
He continued that the shenanigan not only disgraced the ex-President and his party – it indicts them for their role in enabling the infamous Chinese galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang also to thrive in Ghana and issued an infinite resident permit to Aisha Huang.
According to Mr. Owusu Bempah, it is beyond dispute that under John Mahama-led government, the national record of the deleterious impact of galamsey left a lot to be desired. It was simply unprecedented.
Against this background, he added that the dastardly attempt by the NDC to rationalize the political economy of galamsey must be roundedly condemned.
“In essence, attempting to fault bureaucracy or bureaucratic red tape for the pernicious impact of galamsey is at best, a farce and, at the very worst, grossly irresponsible and downright politically repressive.
“The NDC is fast becoming a model of lazy populism with no real ideas apart from their usual triangulated survival antics,” he chastised.
Mr. Bempah who doubles as the Head of Corporate Communications at Ghana Gas used the medium to counsel the NDC that all efforts by the Akufo-Addo administration are to simply manage a very bad situation.
Referring the NDC to an adage which states that, “when you’re trying to breathe under water, you will have to think of the consequences and reach for sane fresh air”, he suggested being wiser for them to proceed gently in galamsey conversation.
