Former President John Dramani Mahama has come under fire from State Transport Company CEO Nana Akomea for his involvement in the unsuccessful galamsey fight.
He claimed that one of the reasons the government’s campaign against illicit mining has not yielded the expected results is the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress.
He claimed that while the government was combating galamsey, the NDC and Mr. Mahama incited the practice ahead of the 2020 elections by promising to release all those detained for galamsey, allowing them to resume their practice, if they were elected.
According to him, the NDC and Mr. Mahama’s actions helped them win votes in the elections.
Speaking about Aisha Huang’s imprisonment on Tuesday, December 5 on TV3’s The Big Issue, Nana Akomea stated, ”Don’t go there and be telling the people that when they vote for [NDC] you will remove these people from jail to come and do galamsey, when you do that we will not win the fight against galamey.”
He added “All the governments that have come have fought galamsey but we all know the efforts have not yielded the results. We undermine our fight when you have a party going to incite people against government telling them that ‘when you vote for you all those who have been arrested will be released.
“When you tell people this you are undermining the fight, it is part of the reasons why we have failed.”
Furthermore, on Monday, December 4, an Accra High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei-Marfo sentenced Aisha Huang to four years in prison after finding her guilty of participating in Galamsey.
In addition, she was fined GH¢48,000 and will be deported once her jail sentence is up.
The court, chaired by Justice Lydia Osei-Marfo, found her guilty of conducting an illegal mining operation, facilitating the participation of individuals engaged in an illegal mining operation, and employing foreign nationals without authorization.
