The former Member of Parliament for Dormaa East, Paul Apraku Twum Barimah, has criticised President John Mahama for failing to fulfil his campaign promised of ending illegal mining activities, popularly called galamsey.

He has therefore advised the president and his ministers to apologize to former President Akufo-Addo Akufo Addo for levelling falls allegations against him as a beneficiary of illegal mining. 

In the run up to the December 2024 general elections, President Mahama promised to end the galamsey menace in his first 90 days in office but that is yet to be fulfilled.

‘As I speak to you now, the galamsey menace has gotten out of control with armed guards moving  into forest reserves attacking and killing officers of  the Forestry Commission .  This is not what Ghanaians were promised. Ghanaians were promised an end to galamsey but that is not what we are experiencing", he said.

According to Mr. Twum Barimah, President Akufo Addo in his eight-year tenure fought strongly against illegal mining to a point that the NPP lost votes in mining areas and mining communities in the 2020 and the 2024 general elections. 

"President Akufo Addo never got any support from Mahama and the NDC in his fight against illegal mining at the time to tackle the menace. The NDC rather protested against the NPP government and succeeded making it unpopular among Ghanaians. Today, their members are deeply engaged in galamsey and destroying our forest reserves", he expressed unhappiness.

He called on President Mahama to apologies to Ghanaians since he and his government have not been able to end galamsey in three months as they promised.

"They need to apologise to President Akufo Addo", he stressed.

"Mahama and Sam George denigrated President Akufo Addo and even accused the former president of being complicit and a beneficiary of galamsey, a sad situation. Today it has become obvious that President Akufo Addo is not complicit and also not a beneficiary of illegal mining, so they have to apologise to Nana Akufo Addo,” he concluded