President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says threats to vote him out in the 2020 election will not stop his government’s anti-galamsey fight.
He said he will carry through his government’s plan to save the country’s environment and water bodies that are being destroyed by illegal miners.
Speaking at the commissioning of an ICT Center at Suabe in the Eastern Regional town of Akyem Wenchi Wednesday, the President said he will not allow some citizens to endanger the lives of the entire population with their unlawful activities.
“Mining along the water bodies cannot continue if we want to preserve nature and our water. It cannot continue,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo’s comments come days after some illegal miners in Akwatia in the Eastern Region threatened to vote against him if he does not halt his anti-galamsey fight.
The galamsey operators told Joy News government’s clampdown on their activities will make them poor.
The miners said they depend on the mining to provide for their families.
A furious miner questioned the rationale behind the anti-galamsey fight especially when the President has promised to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth.
“Does the Lands Minister [John Peter Amewu] want us to sit home? He said, adding he has been without a job for more than eight years.
“Now that our government is in power we want to make money but they want to stop us,” he said.
The Small Scale Miners Association in Kumasi also said it intends to petition the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II to talk to government to reconsider the galamsey crackdown.
At a meeting in Kumasi Tuesday the Association said the government is unfairly magnifying the effects of the activities of its members as though it is the biggest threat in the country.
It appealed to the government to help its members find an environmentally friendly ways to conduct their activities rather than stopping them.
But President Akufo-Addo has said his government is not against mining but those who are doing it unlawfully.
“Illegal mining is what I am against,” he stated, adding the Brim and Densu Rivers in the Region have been polluted by the illegal miners.
He said his government will not shy away from implementing policies that will foster the progress of the country.
Our ancestors left this land for us and if we are not able to develop it we should not destroy it, he said in Twi.
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