Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi and former Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has criticised the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government for failing to take decisive action against illegal mining (galamsey) despite repeatedly describing it as a national crisis.

Speaking in an interview on Adom FM’s morning show Dwaso Nsem, Mr Oppong Nkrumah questioned the government’s efforts, which have not yielded the needed results.

“How many months have you been in power without solving galamsey? All the promises you made that you would declare a state of emergency when you assumed office—up to now, nothing has been done. Does that mean we were the bad ones while in government?” he questioned.

He added, “What has changed? The only thing that has changed is the leadership in power. Let’s look at the actions they promised while we were in office. Have they declared a state of emergency, or did they just tell citizens what they wanted to hear? Today, our water bodies are 90 times worse than before.”

He also cautioned that future political promises must be scrutinized carefully:

“I hope they live long for Ghanaians to see their mess and the promises they made but never fulfilled. Next time, citizens must think twice when such promises are made because too often they are full of words with nothing to show for it.”

His comments follow a call by the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference on September 18, urging President Mahama to declare a state of emergency in areas devastated by galamsey.

Meanwhile, the government has announced steps to protect Ghana’s water bodies and natural resources from further damage caused by illegal mining.