The Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh popularly known as NAPO has made some serious accusations against NDC Presidential candidate John Dramani Mahama. According to NAPO, Mahama was the first sitting president to have been involved in illegal mining activities, popularly known as galamsey.
NAPO claims that during Mahama’s era, he illegally took between 3,000 to 5,000 people into leasehold areas of Ghana Consolidated Diamonds, dubbing them “Youth in Mining.” However, these individuals received no proper training or licenses to mine, which NAPO considers a clear case of galamsey.
“It was under His Excellency John Dramani Mahama when he took 3,000 to 5,000 people illegally onto the leasehold areas of the Ghana Consolidated Diamonds. He and Baba Jamah inaugurated it as Youth in Mining but i say it’s youth in galamsey”, he said
He cited that things took a turn when the Paramount Chief of the Akyem-Abuakwa traditional area, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, confronted Mahama about the issue. Mahama allegedly responded that the miners in the Birim river were part of the “youth in mining” program, and they continued to pollute water bodies.
NAPO revealed that in 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo vowed to tackle galamsey, but Mahama assured galamseyers that they would be allowed to continue working if he came to power, even promising amnesty to those imprisoned.
“The hypocrisy of President Mahama is what I’m talking about here, you are the first sitting president who introduced illegal miners onto acquired concessions and when the presidential candidate was saying let’s all stop it you were even using it as a campaign platform”, he said
He emphasized that the NDC-led Mahama government was the first sitting government to engage in galamsey, unlike the NPP government. He assured that the current government is working to end galamsey.
