{"id":94600,"date":"2025-09-17T23:38:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T23:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=94600"},"modified":"2025-09-17T23:38:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T23:38:55","slug":"without-clear-plan-state-of-emergency-on-galamsey-could-worsen-situation-hackman-owusu-agyeman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=94600","title":{"rendered":"Without clear plan, state of emergency on galamsey could worsen situation \u2013 Hackman Owusu-Agyeman"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 38 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Chairman of the NPP Council of Elders, Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, has cautioned that a declaration of a state of emergency will not automatically resolve the worsening galamsey crisis.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Joy News\u2019 PM Express on September 17, he admitted that illegal mining has gotten worse but stressed that declaring an emergency must come with clarity and concrete steps.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that is the way to go to correct the situation, yes, then I\u2019ll support it. But is it the way to go? You just don\u2019t get up and say, declare a state of emergency. What are the details? What are we declaring? I\u2019ve declared a state of emergency. So what? What is it?\u201d he questioned.<\/p>\n

He insisted that a declaration without a roadmap risks being an empty gesture. <\/p>\n

\u201cLet us get a list of when you declare a state of emergency, the things that you go through, and things that will happen, then that must happen. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, for that matter, then begin to solve the problem and salvage the river bodies and systems and everybody,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Asked if he agreed with President Mahama\u2019s position that Ghana was not yet at the point of declaring an emergency, Mr Owusu-Agyeman was cautious. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith the utmost respect, that is his view that we are not there yet. Some people think that, if that is, I always prefix what I saw with if the state of emergency is what will solve the situation, then by all means will do it. <\/p>\n

But if it\u2019s not, be it and end it all. If it\u2019s not going to be the thing that will solve the situation immediately, then you have to look at it and do it properly. Otherwise, you might find that you have made a situation even worse,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

He further stressed that a state of emergency cannot be treated lightly. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe state of emergency is not something that you do just like that. You have to go through certain motions, and you have to give the populace advice and why you are doing that sort of thing. <\/p>\n

So, the state of emergency, I would want that to begin to expatiate on what that would achieve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The veteran politician underscored the urgency of finding lasting solutions to protect water bodies. <\/p>\n

\u201cWater is very important, so the earlier we find the solution today, the better. I\u2019m saying, if the state of emergency is the one that should do it, then let\u2019s do it. But if there are other ways of doing it, also let it,\u201d he emphasised.<\/p>\n

He concluded by noting that any declaration must be purposeful. <\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the moment you start a state of emergency, every little thing, no, it doesn\u2019t, but there\u2019s a major issue, major issue. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think that those who are calling for a state of emergency have up their sleeves the reasons why and how we would go to make sure that we achieve the results. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a state of emergency, and you don\u2019t achieve the result, then you would have really disturbed the constitutional processes for nothing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"WithoutChairman of the NPP Council of Elders, Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, has cautioned that a declaration of a state of emergency will not automatically resolve the worsening galamsey crisis.<\/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":[196,8746,1883,10,9,8608],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-galamsey","category-hackman-owusu-agyeman","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-state-of-emergency"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94600","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=94600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}