NAPO rejects calls for a shooting approach to dealing with Galamsey

• The vice-presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has rejected calls to shoot and kill illegal miners.
• NAPO said such a proposal was inhumane and inappropriate and should not be considered a solution to the problem
• Rather, he has proposed the reintroduction of community mining programs in mining communities across the country to ensure responsible mining

The vice-presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has rejected calls to shoot and kill people engaged in illegal mining.

NAPO said the proposal could not be seen as a panacea to combat the galamsey plague in the country.

In a video that has since gone viral, NAPO claimed that the opposition National Democratic Congress was hypocritical in its stance on the galamsey plague.

He said their support for a shooting tactic to stop galamsey mining was inhumane and inappropriate and contrary to previous promises they had made to mining communities to release galamsey miners arrested by the ruling government.

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He said the NPP government would not support such brutal action.

He said a future NPP government would prefer to reinstate the community mining programme in mining communities across the country and ensure that the rules and regulations are strictly adhered to.

NAPO said God placed gold underground to be mined, but the mining process must be well regulated to prevent destruction like the one the country is currently experiencing.

“We don’t want anyone mining in the waters because if we don’t get drinking water, we will die as a nation,” NAPO said.

Agyinasare criticises chiefs and politicians over galamsey

Earlier, Dr Agyinasare had expressed concern about the involvement of chiefs and politicians in the illegal mining scourge.

He said police chiefs and politicians had prioritized short-term financial gains over long-term environmental health and the common good, undermining efforts to combat crime.

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Drawing parallels between the situation in Ghana and those in other developed countries, he said the greed of chiefs and other politicians had prevented them from taking the necessary measures to put an end to the practice.

He said politicians loved money more than the people.

“Our chiefs – some of our chiefs and some of our politicians – love money more than the people.”

He said the dire nature of this threat requires Ghanaians to speak out against it and raise awareness about its impact on the environment and human lives in order to prompt government to act.

NDC proposes solution for Galamsey

YEN.com.gh reported that Sammy Gyamfi, the national communications officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said the only way to rid Ghana of galamsey was to vote out the NPP.

He said that while the nuclear power plant was not the cause of the galamsey problem, the scourge had increased significantly during his tenure.

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He attributed the increase to the involvement of high-ranking government officials and other politically exposed persons in the crimes.

Source: YEN.com.gh