Lands Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has stated that while the John Mahama government welcomes genuine criticism on its fight against illegal mining (galamsey), it calls on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) operatives whom he described as the main contributors to environmental degradation to give the administration space to address the problem.
Speaking in an interview on the GTV Breakfast Morning Show, Minister Armah Buah stressed that the government is attentive to constructive feedback and committed to doing more to tackle illegal mining activities devastating Ghana’s forests.
He said “Let me say that those who are really calling for the government to do more, we understand, this is a listening government and we are going to do more and we appreciate it.”
However, Armah Buah was critical of certain political figures, referring to them as “political apparatchiks” who, according to him, are responsible for the extensive environmental damage through their past actions.
He added, “Let me tell you, those who we don’t even want them to be talking, it’s those political apparatchiks who have caused the damage that we are trying to solve, they should really give us some break and give us a room.”
He pointed out that close to 20,000 mining licenses were granted under their watch, leading to unprecedented destruction of forest reserves.
“These (NPP) are the people who have given almost 20 something thousand licenses, this is unprecedented in the history of this country to political operatives opening the floodgates of our forests to be destroyed,” he asserted.
The Minister revealed alarming statistics, noting that 44 out of 288 forest reserves in Ghana have been severely destroyed in a period due to illegal mining activities.
Addressing critics, Armah Buah made a clear distinction between genuine voices urging greater government action and what he described as political pundits from the NPP who, in his view, previously opened the floodgates for environmental destruction.
“We appreciate those who genuinely want the government to do more, and we remain committed to working tirelessly to solve this problem. But the NPP people who damaged the environment and whom we are trying to clean up after, they should give us a break,” he concluded.
Source: www.Kumasimail/Kwadwo Owusu
