Former Government Spokesperson on Governance, Dr Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, has warned that Ghana risks losing its people to environmental destruction if illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, is not dealt with urgently.

Speaking on Prime Insight on Joy Prime on Saturday, September 13, he urged the government to show stronger commitment in addressing the crisis.

“If I would give a counsel and an advice to the sitting government, my advice would be very simple. When we don’t tackle the illegality of mining, we would one day wake up and would have nobody to govern because the issues are so adverse,” Dr Boakye-Danquah said.

He said that galamsey was worsening climate change and posing a direct threat to national security.

“We are depleting the ozone layer. The climate inducing is very high. It is a risk to our security and a number of issues that you cannot run away from,” he cautioned.

Dr Boakye-Danquah noted that during his time in government, deliberate measures were put in place to address illegal mining, and he urged the current administration to learn from those efforts.

“The government must be up and doing, pick up lessons from us because we obviously worked very hard. These are the lessons I’m bringing on board to remind them of the things that we did that yielded the fruits that brought us to where we are,” he explained.

He criticised the government for what he described as a slow response to the escalating crisis.

“I’m glad that the Ghana Water Company is reminding the Ghanaian of the turbidity level because it clearly tells us that the government has been sleeping since it began. You have had an opportunity to be in government since January, and you are still on honeymoon in September.

"I think we need to wake up the President to wake up from the honeymoon. It’s over so that he can address these issues,” he said.

Dr Boakye-Danquah warned against what he called political hypocrisy in handling the matter.

“We know where the issues are. We know how to deal with the issues. This government campaigned, and the Ghanaian people gave them power. Like I said, the honeymoon is over. We haven’t seen a lot of political will that President Mahama has shown to this.

"We had efforts and those efforts yielded maximum fruits and I cannot sit here to deny that our efforts didn’t yield fruits. Of course, we didn’t end the fight against illegal mining, which is why former President Akufo-Addo said he was putting this presidency on the line. He stated how important this is. We have not seen such efforts from President John Mahama,” he said.

The former government spokesperson also called for tougher legal action against those profiting from illegal mining at the expense of public health.

“All of us stand at risk, clearly. I thought that the LI2462 would have been revoked by now. It is now that the Attorney General is trying to. These are issues that should have been dealt with boldly and strongly.

"I want to be able to wake up one day and see that beyond the law enforcement that is there. Why should people be making money at the detriment of our health?” he asked.