Senior Advisor to President Akufo-Addo Yaw Osafo-Maafo has challenged traditional rulers to take a lead role in government's renewed fight against illegal small-scale mining.

The Senior Advisor who was heavily criticized in 2019 for his infamous Aisha Huang deportation comment made the call at the book launch of J. A. Braimah, a founding father of the Northern People's Party and the first cabinet minister of northern extraction in the history of Ghana.

Speaking at the book launch, the former senior minister said, "Today one single fight we have as a government, is the fight against galamsey".

Yaw Osafo-Maafo who was once Finance minister also made a direct appeal to the traditional rulers to join the fight saying, "Nananom, our revered traditional rulers should take on the fight because you are the custodians of the land. We cannot just wait for people to just destroy the land when we call ourselves the traditional rulers. We should join the fight, be at the forefront of the fight and make sure we protect the environment for the future".

He further stated that as a country, "we cannot destroy our rivers for the sake of few people making money".

The Senior Advisor also called on the general population to protect the environment by fighting illegal miners wherever they find them.