Deputy National Director of A Rocha Ghana, Daryl Bosu, has cautioned the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) that Ghanaians will hold the party to the same standard it applied in criticising the New Patriotic Party (NPP) over illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey.

Speaking on the maiden edition of Prime Insight on Joy Prime on Saturday, August 16, Mr Bosu said the NDC has been in office for more than six months, and the time to act decisively is now.

"We are going to mark this new government by the same principles and standards as we used for the previous administration. If we do not really deal with the seriousness of galamsey now, by the end of the year, it will be very difficult for the government to rein these people in,” he warned.

He said the NPP wasted resources and opportunities during its tenure and failed to stop illegal mining.

“By the end of the eight years of the previous administration, we were really back to nothing. We wasted a lot of effort, a lot of resources, a lot of time. Commitments and promises were just thrown away because people still wanted to do galamsey as it was to their benefit,” he said.

He explained that there is currently goodwill from the public to support the NDC government’s actions, but this could quickly fade if results are not seen.

According to him, the government’s approach so far shows a lack of urgency.

"So far, if they really wanted to do anything about galamsey, there are several key benchmark areas that they could have been very successful, achieved some key results, but they've still failed in doing that."

“A lot of the solutions are there, but they are sidestepping them, beating around the bush when they really need to be decisive,” he added.