Following a recent two-day consultative meeting of major stakeholders in the fight against illegal mining, there has been a lot of activity in line with the President’s renewed commitment toward curbing the galamsey menace which has despoiled swathes of Ghana’s land and polluted many of our waterbodies.

Lands Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor, outlining multiple measures to be adopted to stem the tide of illegal mining, has gone round different parts of the country to familiarise himself with the reality of the situation.

On the back of all that, military personnel were deployed to aid the fight against illegal mining. The police administration has also recently deployed 200 personnel to provide security for large-scale mining companies across the country.

In spite of these efforts, though, the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam George, has described the Nana-Addo-led government’s galamsey fight a failure. “I get very passionate when I talk about galamsey issues, because I feel the president has failed. And this is not politics. This is about leadership. Leadership must act. When it goes well, leadership gets the credit. When it doesn’t go well, we must hold leadership accountable.”

Sam George also referred to Nana Akufo-Addo’s galamsey fight as a “soundbite fight.” “[The president said], I put my presidency on the line. Did he put his presidency on the line? No.”