The Deputy Communications Director of the NPP, Ernest Owusu Bempah, has quizzed his party on what moral ground they have to attack the John Mahama-led NDC government over galamsey.
Ernest Owusu Bempah maintained that his party (the NPP) has no moral high ground to demand accountability on galamsey from the current NDC administration.
He alleged that some NPP bigwigs participated in the galamsey menace during their tenure, which led to Akufo-Addo’s failure in the galamsey fight.
Speaking to Afia Pokua, popularly known as Vim Lady on the Gyaso Gyaso programme, Owusu Bempah stated, “Today, the NDC look at what they do, they protect their own, we must speak the truth to ourselves. The party, J A Kufuor and others created they allowed people to share their opinions.
If today, you have one person who will speak the truth to Ghanaians, for them to know the NPP speaks the truth. Are they saying the NPP does not support the truth?
The things people have said, Ghanaians themselves know. Today, I have received numerous messages from traditional leaders from the Ahsanti Region asking me what is going on,
The people in our party, a lot of them were doing galamsey, allegedly. Did you hear the NPP ending galamsey under Akufo-Addo? They embraced the president; today, Mahama is in power. What moral high ground do we have to attack the NDC over galamsey? Let the people of Ghana decide. We do not have the moral right, that is the point I am making”.
Also, Samuel Abu Jinapor, the former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and Member of Parliament for Damongo, has admitted that the former Akufo-Addo government, of which he was a part, did not deal with galamsey.
Abu Jinapor expressed worry as the galamsey situation has worsened, with the turbidity levels in Ghana’s rivers increasing.
According to Abu Jinapor, Ghana will not make any headway in the galamsey fight if it is politicised, which undermines meaningful progress.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Thursday, September 25, Abu Jinapor stated, “I am worried, I am concerned that today we are being told the turbidity levels have gotten far worse”.
“So we then have to ask ourselves some tough questions. The Akufo-Addo administration obviously did not deal with galamsey conclusively, I would be disingenuous to claim otherwise. But when I do a comparative analysis of the turbidity levels, it gives us serious cause for concern.”
“I said when we were in government that we will not make headway if we politicised this matter,” he stressed.
Abu Jinapor added, “Of course, the NDC were huge beneficiaries of galamsey politics in the run-up to the 2024 elections. The NPP lost considerably more. And now, there is a tendency for some within the NPP and its collaborators to say this is payback time, but I want to strongly advise against that”.
“You will not have the political will and spine to deal with this matter if your political opponents are kicking galamsey as a football,” he cautioned.
The Damongo Member of Parliament further urged that the galamsey fight should be a national call for action.
“It should be a national call. All of us should be united in the fight against illegal small-scale mining”, he stressed.
Meanwhile, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has dragged its Deputy Director of Communications, Ernest Owusu Bempah, to the National Council following multiple petitions for his removal.
According to the NPP, Ernest Owusu Bempah has been referred to the National Council, which has the authority to make a final determination.
The NPP leadership expressed grave concern over the conduct of Owusu Bempah, adding that it had officially received petitions calling for his removal from office.
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