The Executive Director of the Institute of Economic Research and Public Policy (IERPP), Professor Isaac Boadi, has stated that politicians politicizing the fight against illegal mining is largely to blame for the deaths of the 8 functionaries of the government.
In a statement, Professor Boadi who is also the Dean of Accounting and Finance at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), emphasized that the country has not been successful in its fight against illegal mining because of needless partisanship.
“While we commiserate with the bereaved families as a result of the tragic helicopter crash that has taken 8 precious lives, we must not lose sight of the main cause behind what has happened” he stated.
“But for political parties politicizing this fight, there would not have been any need for the program to be organized in the first place, let alone necessitating the 8 persons embarking on that trip where they met such a fate” he said further.
He recounted the situation in which parties in power have met stiff resistance from those in opposition when it comes to fighting galamsey.
“Whenever one party, say party A, is in power and tackles illegal mining, the party in opposition, party B, kicks against it. This vicious cycle has been with us for years, leading to this tragic incident” he reiterated.
“Prior to the 2020 elections, when the Akufo-Addo administration was busily fighting galamsey, key members of then opposition NDC went to galamsey sites and urged them to vote for their political party after which they’d be allowed to continue with their illegal mining activities. Such oppositions are harmful to the environmental health of Ghana today, and in future” he added.
The NDC, according to the IERPP’s Executive Director, at the tail end of the 2024 electioneering campaign, visited many of the water bodies in the country and insisted on the declaration of a state of emergency by the Akufo-Addo government.
“As unfortunate as this may seem, let us use the deaths of these galant men as the watershed marking the beginning of a new era of fighting galamsey” he stressed.
“Let us use this tragic incident to chart a new path. Let the political actors from all sides come together, come out with pragmatic ideas to help fight this cancerous menace. The politicization of the fight against illegal mining activities must come to an end” Prof. Boadi added.
“The Institute of Economic Research and Public Policy, IERPP demands that a state of emergency be declared by the President of the Republic, John Dramani Mahama, as the first step toward the fighting against illegal mining” the Executive Director added.
