The fight against galamsey has failed due to the politicisation – Afenyo Markin

The Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament has called for advocacy to ensure that Ghana builds a National Consensus to end galamsey in the country.

Afenyo Markin expressed concern about how our water bodies are being handled in response to a statement made by Kobina Woyome on the current mining of galamsey on the Black Volta.

He noted that the government is making efforts to combat galamsey, but that some are using it for political purposes.

He stated that if another party is elected today, any attempt to deal with galamsey will be detrimental to that party because we have people who will turn it into a political issue.

This approach, he bemoaned, was not assisting the country in dealing with the threat.

He averred that the politicisation of galamsey will lead us nowhere unless the advocacy is aimed at ensuring that we build a national consensus on the matter.

"There should be no NDC, there should be no NPP, and there should be no partisanship when it comes to galamsey. I am worried about what is happening in our water bodies. We don’t have clean water. The cancer is going on. A lot of people are going to have colon cancer. Have we thought about that? And these are the very poor in our society, and they will come to us as politicians to demand support from us to treat themselves. We will suffer because we all drink water in the country, and that water comes from Ghana Water. We have to be careful in this country. We have to end this political hypocrisy. We must know as a political class that there are some matters that are of national interest and congregate around them without thinking about the next election.”

He emphasised the importance of politicians banding together to fight the canker without regard for political considerations.

He said we are all to blame for the issue of galamsey since we have all failed, including CSOs, the media, and state institutions, among others.

On his part, Minority Chief Whip Kwame Governs Agbodza described galamseyers as murderers who must equally suffer the fate of people who are convicted of murder.

He said, If you are outside of this house and in this house engaged in galamsey, you are just as much a murderer as anybody who kills people through armed robbery, and the punishment that goes for murderers should go for people who engage in galamsey.”

He stated that the House was ready to assist all government agencies and bodies responsible for the fight against galamsey in taking effective actions.

oseph Osei Wusu, the first deputy speaker, also urged the house to take serious steps to end galamsey in the country.

He believes that the fight against galamsey will be successful if we take action, and that until we do, MPs will continue to submit statements on the issue when it comes to their regions.

He recalled making a statement five years ago when the issue had reached the Northern region.