The NDC Weaponized Galamsey, They Don't Have Any Different Approach To Solve It - Kwasi Kwarteng

Legal practitioner and spokesperson for Kennedy Agyapong’s campaign team, Kwasi Kwarteng, has accused the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of using the fight against illegal mining—known locally as galamsey—to gain political advantage during the last election.

Speaking in an interview on JoyNews, Kwarteng argued that the NDC deliberately portrayed former President Akufo-Addo as the primary culprit behind illegal mining. He cautioned that “politicians should avoid weaponizing such issues for political gain in the future.”

“One of the tools that the NDC weaponized was the galamsey fight, which I think going forward at no point should politicians ever do that again. When we weaponized the fight against galamsey and looked into our own faces to say that Mr. Akufo-Addo is the problem, it was wrong,” Kwarteng said.

Kwarteng maintained that despite a change of government, the galamsey menace has worsened:

“Today, Akufo-Addo is not in power, yet the problem of galamsey has rather increased and escalated just one year into the new administration. From the trajectory, if you compare it to what they promised, I’m not sure they have achieved even a fraction of their goals.”

He further argued that the NDC has shown no unique approach to tackling illegal mining:

“I reviewed the NDC’s campaign manifesto and their stated policies on how to address galamsey. I wanted to see whether their comprehensive plan offered anything new, but it appears to be the same as before.”

Galamsey remains a major national concern, destroying water bodies and forest reserves across Ghana. In response, citizens have launched a #StopGalamsey demonstration, urging the government to declare a state of emergency on illegal mining.