{"id":96576,"date":"2025-10-01T08:59:34","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T08:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=96576"},"modified":"2025-10-01T08:59:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T08:59:34","slug":"mahama-could-have-done-more-in-the-galamsey-fight-says-sam-george","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=96576","title":{"rendered":"Mahama could have done more in the galamsey fight, says Sam George"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 24 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Communications Minister says President John Mahama could have done more to tackle illegal mining, aka galamsey, but insists his commitment to the fight is far stronger than what Ghanaians witnessed under the Akufo-Addo administration.<\/p>\n

Speaking on JoyNews\u2019 PM Express, Sam Nartey George defended his long-held position that galamsey can be crushed if there is real political will.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely,\u201d he said when asked if he still stood by his statement that President Akufo-Addo, as Commander-in-Chief, could have ended galamsey in a week. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was seven years, nine months into the Nana Akufo-Addo administration. After multiple anti-galamsey task forces and millions of cedis spent, it was fair to demand action. We didn\u2019t see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ningo Prampram MP argued that the same standard applies to President Mahama, who has been in office for nine months. <\/p>\n

\u201cDo I wish I had seen more? Absolutely. I wish it ended today,\u201d he admitted. \u201cBut in the nine months, I can confidently say that I see a desire and a will to deal with galamsey that didn\u2019t exist in the previous eight years.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to him, President Mahama has already demonstrated political courage by allowing investigations into two of his own party executives accused of illegal mining. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the previous president, a regional chairman openly told a minister that they must engage in galamsey because the party needed money. The president went on to campaign for that individual. That was tacit endorsement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sam George highlighted recent successes under President Mahama, including military operations that recovered seven out of nine forest reserves where mining had been ongoing. <\/p>\n

He also pointed to a major stakeholder meeting slated for October 3, where more than 30 civil society organisations will meet the president to develop a national roadmap.<\/p>\n

Still, he believes President Mahama must go further. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot more could be done in terms of enforcement. We could move faster,\u201d he stressed. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has started fantastically well, but we must not rest on our laurels. We should go all out and win this war, if not for anything, in memory of the eight gallant sons who died in the helicopter crash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to claims that he once called for a state of emergency in galamsey-hit areas, Sam George was emphatic: \u201cI have never, ever called for a state of emergency.\u201d <\/p>\n

Instead, he advocates targeted and sustained military operations. <\/p>\n

\u201cGalamsey remains the biggest existential threat to our nation. It is Ghana\u2019s version of Colombia\u2019s drug cartels. Our armed forces are capable of launching surgical operations to win this war,\u201d he maintained.<\/p>\n

For Sam George, the difference between Mahama and his predecessor lies in sincerity. <\/p>\n

\u201cHave we fixed it? Not yet. But I am confident that before the expiration of President Mahama\u2019s term, we will be in a better place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MahamaCommunications Minister says President John Mahama could have done more to tackle illegal mining, aka galamsey, but insists his commitment to the fight is far stronger than what Ghanaians witnessed under the Akufo-Addo administration.<\/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":[196,1883,10,9,1155,1887],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-galamsey","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-president-john-mahama","category-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96576","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=96576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96576\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}