Deputy Director of Elections and IT for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Rashid Tanko-Computer, has accused the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) of deliberately pursuing policies that destroyed Ghana’s forest reserves during their eight years in office.

Speaking on the maiden edition of Prime Insight on Joy Prime on Saturday, August 16, Mr Tanko recalled the party’s controversial justification for allowing mining in protected areas, saying it was proof of misplaced priorities.

These people did a sustained strategy of destroying the forest cover. You remember the word they used 'party hia sika.' And Ghanaians were quiet about it. When they said 'party hia sika', therefore they should allow them to go in there. Even government officials were importing excavators and moving heavy machines into the forest areas, destroying everything,” he said.

Mr Tanko said the NPP’s actions showed that the party was never committed to protecting the country’s natural resources.

“They used 96 months, that is eight years, to destroy the forest. The evidence abounds; everybody can see it. When they went to Parliament and passed that act that allowed them to go into forest reserves to mine, what were they thinking?” he asked.

Mr Tanko said that those who resisted the damage were victimised. “Even people who demonstrated against galamsey were arrested and locked up,” he claimed.

He noted that it is unfair to expect the new government to undo years of destruction in just a few months.

“If somebody uses 96 months to destroy something, do you expect us to use eight months to resolve that problem? The presidency was not committed. This is a president who said he had put his presidency on the line, yet his own committee members were involved in galamsey,” he said.

The NDC's Director of Elections and IT also criticised the previous government’s handling of galamsey report by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, led by Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng.

“When the minister wrote a fine report about the activities of that committee on dalamsey, what did they do?

Mr Tanko said that the Akufo-Addo-led administration failed because the presidency itself lacked the will to stop illegal mining.

“So at that time, if the presidency was committed and made sure that those activities they were involved in ended at that level, we wouldn’t be where we are,” he said.

He explained that the NDC government is reviewing the legal framework that enabled mining in forest reserves and is preparing a new bill to address the gaps.

“Initially we thought we could just amend the part that allowed the president to give permits for mining in forest areas. But others said, no, let’s repeal the whole act and come with a new one. The Attorney-General has worked on it, and the bill is ready. We are going to remove it,” he disclosed.

Mr Tanko-Computer further revealed that the late ministers and security chiefs who died in the recent Ghana Air Force helicopter crash were on their way to help launch a new programme to fight illegal mining.

“When those eight gallant men died, they were in the process of trying to resolve galamsey because we were going to launch a programme known as Responsible Mining,” he said.