The Director of Communications for the Bawumia Campaign Team, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has defended former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s handling of the fight against illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey, insisting that his efforts remain unmatched by any of his predecessors.

According to Mr Aboagye, the political environment created around the issue of galamsey undermined Nana Akufo-Addo’s attempts to bring the menace under control.

Speaking on JoyNews’s Newsfile on Saturday, September 20, he argued that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and sections of the public unfairly turned against the former president, which hindered his ability to fully implement his anti-galamsey agenda.

“I think that the way the president and the NDC managed to turn the entire country against Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the way they managed to politicise galamsey, is one of the reasons why Akufo-Addo could not complete the fight against galamsey,” Mr Aboagye said.

He stressed that Nana Akufo-Addo remains the only leader who has provided “proof of concept” in tackling illegal mining, pointing to evidence of improved water quality during his first term as president.

“None of them – not Mahama, not Professor Atta Mills – was able to achieve this. It was Nana Addo who showed that our water bodies could clean up.” he noted.