The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has challenged the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Mahama to tell Ghanaians his alternative in the fight against illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.

According to the ruling party, galamsey, largely affected water bodies under the Mahama administration, but the NPP does not believe the issue should be politicized, and therefore charged the largest opposition party to rather commend the Akufo-Addo government for its bold decision to tackle the issue head on instead of inciting Ghanaians against the government.

"Fighting galamsey effectively is also a national security, peace and stability issue. The NPP is challenging John Mahama to justify the explosion in galamsey activities in his tenure, with two ministers giving up on the fight, one of them citing orders from above....

"....whatever action NPP administration has taken against the menace is an attestation to the fact that it is bent on ending this destructive activity once and for all...

"...We are yet to hear candidate Mahama on the galamsey fight, what exactly is the NDC going to do about the galamsey, we want to know because we don’t know,” Communications Director of the NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoah, said these remarks at a press conference in Accra today.

Addressing the media at the party’s Headquarters, the NPP Communications Director accused the NDC of beating the war drums ahead of the December 7, 2020 general elections instead of engaging in a campaign of ideas and policies.

“The NDC leadership has refused to commit themselves to peaceful elections. They refused to sign the National Peace Council road map towards eliminating vigilantism. Instead, they keep bombarding this beautiful country with threats of violence if the electoral process is not done according to what they dictate.

“Whilst a clear and large majority of Ghanaians want a credible election with the support of a new clean register, the NDC leadership are threatening to burn the country down, if all of us do not bow to their desire to go back to a register that has been declared by the service provider as technically unsound and can be restored only with inbuilt risk at a cost higher than a new one...

“As we are all aware, Candidate Mahama has waded into that debate on the side of violence. He threatens the country with consequences, obviously violent, if his personal desire to run the country without clear defined policies is not granted....

“Let the NDC and John Mahama understand and accept finally that this country will not go back to their days favouring violence as a political solution. We have had seven elections under the 1992 Constitution and the pending eighth one will be peaceful, free and credible. We the NPP are committed to that," he said.

Hon Buabeng Asamoah, who is also the MP for Adentan Constituency, challenged the NDC flagbearer to channel his energy into responding to allegations against him such as the Airbus bribery scandal and other key national issues among others rather than engaging in selectivity.

“Whilst the NDC have the right to pick and choose what they will talk about, it is only fair that they respond to issues of deep concern to the country if they genuinely seek to rule. They refuse to acknowledge the enhanced performance of the cedi, with international investment predicted to be the highest this early 2020.

“We are yet to hear John Mahama on the Western Togoland issues. We are yet to hear John Mahama on the impact of the new regions. We are yet to hear John Mahama on the inter-operability contract. We are yet to hear John Mahama on the disastrous and dangerous state of the eastern corridor road, torn apart less than five years after he received a Ford vehicle in appreciation from his favourite contractor. We are yet to hear John Mahama on the success of the Year of Return. We are yet to hear John Mahama on the Government settling the full arrears due OMCs. We are yet to hear John Mahama on the impact of the closed fishing season, remember he rather chose to distribute head pans. We are yet to hear John Mahama on the successful completion of the IMF programme that he led us into. We are yet to hear John Mahama on his galamsey control policy.

“Indeed, we are yet to hear John Mahama on an international scandal the size of ‘Airbus’. In a widespread pattern of bribery to secure sales, in which court documents point to his complicity and the NPP has named him, he hides behind weak denials from his party," the NPP Communications Director charged.