The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Full Gospel Church International, Bishop Dr Samuel Noi Mensah, has called for the resignation of the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor.

According to him, the Minister has not shown the political will to combat illegal mining activities, locally referred to as galamsey.

His comments follow Mr Jinapor's claim that some politicians within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) oppose the fight against galamsey because it is diminishing their political fortunes.

• Read also: Galamsey: It seems we don’t have leaders with the political will to bring change – Bishop Mensah

Speaking on JoyNews' Upfront on Thursday, September 5, Bishop Mensah called for the Minister’s resignation.

He emphasised that the Lands Minister’s failure to address these issues, which have led to environmental destruction and water pollution, cannot be ignored.

“First of all, he should resign. He has refused to provide leadership and ensure that this destructive behaviour which is a life-threatening situation against all of us should be curtailed, so he has to resign,” he said.

Bishop Mensah further criticised the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration for failing to combat the galamsey menace they had promised to tackle seven years ago when they assumed office.

He questioned why the ruling NPP would ask Ghanaians to vote them back into power when they have not resolved a problem they pledged to fix.

“What business do you have asking the people to put you back into office? You haven’t demonstrated that will that you are committed to stopping this situation and so the Minister should have resigned a couple of years ago,” he added.

• Read also: Galamsey: Ghana is committing a national genocide – Rev. Frimpong-Manso

Meanwhile, the former President of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, Rev. Prof. Paul Frimpong Manso has called on church leaders to mobilise their congregations to protest against the illegal mining menace.

Speaking on Upfront, he emphasised that it is only through such mass protests that the government would be pressured to take decisive action.

"As for the Church leaders, please, we are the conscience of the nation. We must either keep quiet or sink together with the populace… So, to my fellow church leaders, we must preach the truth. People may hate us, fight us, or not understand us, but that is what Desmond Tutu and others did to liberate South Africa from apartheid," he said.

He added that illegal mining has become even more dangerous and called on church leaders to do more than just preach the gospel and pretend that everything is fine.

“Our nation is being destroyed. We are heading towards national doom, and it’s better late than never. I hope that by this coming Sunday, church leaders will wear red bands, go out, and demonstrate—even if it is to the Jubilee House or elsewhere,” Rev. Prof. Frimpong-Manso urged.