The former Director of Communications of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Buaben Asamoah, is of the view that it will be difficult to stop galamsey activities because government appointees and other politicians are neck-deep in the illegal act.

Yaw Bauben Asamoa, while expressing his concern over the galamsey menace and how fast its effects are escalating, stated that the District Chief Executives (DCEs) and other leaders in these small mining communities have no power to stop top politicians who send their men to mine illegally in their towns.

“A lot of people under the NPP are involved in the galamsey activities. Not just the NPP government, but some NDC political heads are also involved in this galamsey act. Until we fight the government, we can never resolve galamsey issues," he said during an interview on Kingdom FM.”

He further lambasted some military personnel who were sent to these sites to protect water bodies from being destroyed because of galamsey activities ending up taking their share of the quota.

“We know some soldiers who dress up with the impression that they are going into the forest reserves to protect the forest, but they only go there to supervise galamsey and take their quota after a day’s job. For soldiers, galamsey enforcement is better than peacekeeping because they benefit more," Yaw Bauben Asamoa added.