An independent presidential candidate, Kofi Koranteng has strongly argued that if any group of persons should be arrested for the destruction caused by illegal mining, it should be the President and his ministers rather than anti-galamsey protestors who sought to shed light on the canker.

He said this on the Joy News Desk on October 2, while outlining how his government would deal with the menace if he is voted into power on December, 7.

On the show, Koranteng described the NPP government as incompetent and as a result incapable of managing and controlling the mining sector.

He promised that should he become president of the country, illegal mining and all activities related to it would be banned completely.

He said, "This government is so ridiculously incompetent and we cannot forgive them. When somebody goes out to protest too, you have the audacity to arrest them. Hey! Do you understand? The people who should be arrested are the president and his ministers…

He expressed his disapproval of the arrest of protesters who joined the #StopGalamseyNow protest organised by the Democracy Hub, describing it as unfair.

“What is the most valuable item on earth? Not the human being? And you are injecting lethal synthetic pharmaceuticals and they respond because they can’t take it anymore and you arrest them. The nerve you have to arrest them. Release them immediately because you are irresponsible and incompetent. You must be in jail,” he roared, "This is ridiculous. You're killing us, they respond and you arrest them. Are you out of your mind? This is so upsetting."

Read also: https://www.myjoyonline.com/ag-defends-prosecution-of-galamsey-protestors-citing-threats-to-national-peace/

Having expressed his disappointment in the government's inability to curb the menace, backing calls for a total ban on galamsey by the government.

He said, "We need to without doubt shut down the whole industry, stop, and reset. We need to shut it down because it is killing us. Immediate ban on everything related to galamsey because obviously, this government does not have control. Do they have control?"