Honestly stating, some politicians have penchant for needless misinformation metastasizing, or an insatiable crave for attention, and, With this in mind, doubtful individuals like me (the author), can be excused for doubting President Mahama on his declaration to bring to a halt the activities of illegal miners in 2013(see: “We'll deal with foreigners in 'galamsey' - President Mahama”; Ghanaian Times/Ghanaweb.com 13/02/2013).

“As electoral competition has become more intense, the galamsey discourse has become increasingly partisan in nature; opposition parties often bolster the position of illegal miners in order to make those in power unpopular and gain partisan political advantage (Dr Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai, 2017).”

Sometime in 2013, some of us rightly doubted President Mahama on his declaration to bring to a halt the activities of illegal miners (See: “We'll deal with foreigners in 'galamsey' - President Mahama” (see: Ghanaian Times/Ghanaweb.com 13/02/2013).

It would be recalled that sometime in February 2013, President Mahama held a meeting with the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, led by their President, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin at Flagstaff House.

During the interactions, President Mahama declared that: “The government will take firm steps to stop foreigners from engaging in small-scale mining activities in the country.”

President Mahama went ahead and asserted that "small scale mining is the exclusive preserve of the people, and as such the government will not allow the industry to be flooded by foreigners.”

Sometime in May 2013, former President John Dramani Mahama inaugurated a five-member inter-ministerial taskforce to fight the menace of illegal mining in which the members included then Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, as Chairman, former Minister for Defence, Mr Mark Woyongo, former Minister for Interior, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, Dr Joe Oteng Adjei, and Ms Hannah Tetteh.

The taskforce was tasked to seize all the equipment the illegal miners were using to steal our mineral resources and destroy the environment.

In effect, the inter-ministerial taskforce was given executive powers to arrest and prosecute both Ghanaians and foreigners who were engaging in small scale illegal mining.

The inter-ministerial taskforce was also to deport foreign illegal miners and revoke licenses of Ghanaians who have sub-leased their concessions to foreigners.

However, after a little over three years of the NDC government setting up the anti-galamsey taskforce to circumscribe the activities of the recalcitrant illegal miners, The then Environment Minister, Mahama Ayariga admitted in 2016 that it was time for government to regularize illegal small scale mining (galamsey) activities as a more proactive way to stop pollution of water bodies (see: Minister gives up on fight against illegal mining; myjoyonline.com, 15/09/2016).

The Honourable Mahama Ayariga however admitted that the efforts to halt illegal mining activities failed miserably because “wherever there is mineral resources people will do everything and whatever it takes to be able to extract those resources (myjoyonline.com, 15/09/2016).”

“I called Minerals Commission, I called the EPA, I called all the stakeholders and I said look, it looks as if we cannot stop them from mining so why don’t we help them to mine properly so that we avoid the pollution”.

“They have a way of covering it and you won’t know that there is a pit there...you just won’t know”.

“Mahama Ayariga said the menace of galamsey cannot be blamed entirely on central government noting that the responsibility to stop it is a shared one.”

“It extends to traditional authorities and local government authorities. Many of these institutions are failing (myjoyonline.com, 15/09/2016).”

There is no gainsaying the fact that the illegal miners have been bribing their way through and taking advantage of the absence of strict monitoring and enforcement of the existing laws and regulations.

If that were not the case, how on earth would some unpatriotic Ghanaians and their foreign counterparts seize our countryside, steal our gold and destroy the environment and go scot free?

It was, therefore, extremely commendable when President Akufo-Addo prudently placed an interim ban on small-scale mining activities.

It was against such backdrop that some of us struggled to get our heads around how and why former President Mahama could oppose Akufo-Addo’s estimable efforts to curb the activities of the conscienceless illegal miners (See: Stop chasing illegal miners with soldiers – Mahama to government; citinewsroom.com/ghanaweb.com, 28/04/2018).

K. Badu, UK.

k.badu2011@gmail.com