Member of the Ghana Coalition Against Illegal Mining, Senyo Hosi, has called on leaders of both the Majority and Minority in Parliament to put aside partisan blame games and unite in the fight against illegal mining (galamsey).

He described the situation as an “existential crisis” threatening the country’s future.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on Tuesday, October 21, Mr. Hosi expressed disappointment in the political back-and-forth between the two sides, saying that Ghanaians expect decisive and collaborative leadership, not excuses.

“I have heard both parties, and this is very disappointing. This is the time for all parties to come together to deal with this because what we have before us is an existential crisis. It’s not a matter of any blame game, and we all need to go above that at this stage,” he said.

However, he commended Parliament for making the galamsey issue a top priority after returning from recess, urging lawmakers to use their oversight role to ensure accountability from the Executive.

"Now Parliament has an oversight responsibility over the Executive. So we will recommend that both parties [the Majority and Minority] be consensus on how we monitor the effectiveness of the executives' claims of actions.

"...So if Parliament is very minded, which I want to believe they are, I want to appeal to them that this business of opposing because you are in opposition and you just defending anything because you are a majority should stop.

“We should set the parameters for the Executives. One, the executives should ensure that the turbidity that gets to our water production or processing plants at Ghana Water are published every day for every single station.

"They should also ensure that the State ensures that the state of water quality report is issued every month. We should have a state of food quality also issued every month,” he proposed.

Mr. Hosi also called for better transparency from the country’s security agencies, noting that illegal miners are now armed and increasingly posing a threat to national security.

“We should be able to get the security apparatus to let us know the state of our security situation as threatened by galamsey operatives who are now wielding guns and fighting against our own forces,” he stressed.

He added that only a united, non-partisan approach can save Ghana’s environment and future generations.