{"id":119536,"date":"2026-05-25T11:40:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T11:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=119536"},"modified":"2026-05-25T11:40:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T11:40:04","slug":"there-is-no-fight-against-galamsey-under-ndc-baffour-awuah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=119536","title":{"rendered":"There is no fight against galamsey under NDC \u2013 Baffour Awuah"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>3 Minute, 42 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
\n

New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, has criticised the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government over its handling of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, insisting that there is currently \u201cno fight\u201d against the menace.<\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview on JoyNews Desk, the lawmaker questioned the effectiveness of ongoing efforts to deal with illegal mining, saying that the condition of the country\u2019s polluted water bodies shows little evidence of progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no fight. Where is the fight?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Mr Awuah said the true measure of success in the fight against galamsey should be visible results rather than public statements or promises.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see, I have a Nigerian client who once jokingly told me, \u2018I don\u2019t reward effort. I reward results.\u2019 Where are the results?\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

According to him, Ghana\u2019s rivers and water bodies remain heavily polluted despite claims that institutions are working to tackle the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) is doing well, our water bodies should be impacted by now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe water bodies are there for everyone to see. They are coloured water bodies, heavily coloured water bodies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Manhyia South MP also called on the media to play a stronger role in holding leaders accountable and presenting the realities on the ground to the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are things that I believe that very respectfully the media, as the fourth estate of the realm, should be able to help regulate by way of pointing us to the right or the truth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that everybody will see who is doing well, who is not doing well, and then nobody will pull a yarn through our eyes and take advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Awuah, who defended the anti-galamsey efforts of the previous Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo administration, said that no government in recent history had fought illegal mining more aggressively.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, you may dislike Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, but I don\u2019t think that in recent history any government has fought galamsey as Nana Addo did,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

He pointed to the nationwide ban on small-scale mining introduced during the Akufo-Addo administration as evidence of government commitment to addressing the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not a matter of dispute that there was a ban on mining activities in this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Awuah also said that several policies were introduced during the ban period to promote responsible mining practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolicies were fashioned out to ensure responsible mining,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

The MP said that mining remains crucial to Ghana\u2019s economy and should not be completely discouraged, but rather properly regulated.<\/p>\n

\u201cMining is very critical to our economy,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, if you read from experts, particularly when it comes to mining governance, our key as a nation out of poverty is mining.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that stronger governance structures were needed to ensure the country benefits more from its mineral resources, especially because foreign mining companies often transfer profits outside Ghana.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make sure that we have a lot of governance in that sector because when you are foreigners, they repatriate their funds out of the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to him, the focus should be on responsible mining that protects the environment while still supporting economic growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to sit down and find a way to ensure that people mine responsibly because we need people to also mine to grow our economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my humble view, that is what God has given us to grow as a people. We should do it in a manner that doesn\u2019t affect our lives because the environment is life,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mr Awuah further said that although the Akufo-Addo and Mahamudu Bawumia administration made mistakes in the fight against galamsey, their achievements were overshadowed by criticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cNana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Dr Bawumia administration did a lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, there were some shortfalls, and those shortfalls were blown to cover the good deeds that they had done in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

He claimed the NDC capitalised on public dissatisfaction over those shortcomings to win political support and return to office.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than sitting down, identifying the shortfalls and encouraging the government to address those shortfalls, we made it seem as though the government had done nothing and the NDC took advantage of it and came into office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, has criticised the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government over its handling of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, insisting that there is currently \u201cno fight\u201d against the menace.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[442,1906,1883,2313,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-galamsey-fight","category-hp-news-5","category-national","category-ndc","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=119536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=119536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=119536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=119536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}