One of the expectations of Ghanaians prior to the presentation of the fourth State of the Nation Address by President Akufo-Addo was to speak on the missing excavators and other matters arising in the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as ‘Galamsey’.

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has questioned the President's will to fight galamsey in light of some 500 missing excavators.

"Akufo-Addo has failed to fight against galamsey . . . The fight against galamsey is not about NDC, nor NPP, but about the people. That's why we all rallied behind him to fight against galamsey when he made a solemn promise to put his presidency on the line to fight galamsey, but he failed,” National Communications Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi had indicated.

Speaking to this during his SoNA presentation in Parliament on Thursday, President Akufo-Addo said investigations are currently ongoing and that the culprits, when found culpable, will be dealt with regardless of 'position or political colour'.

According to him, “mining in forest reserves have declined and a number of people dying in pits have reduced more than 90 percent.”

"Operation Vanguard has been largely successful even though problems still remain," he said.