Director of Communications of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah has called on former president John Dramani Mahama to provide information on National Democratic Congress (NDC) members he said engaged in illegal small scale mining popularly known as galamsey but had their equipment confiscated.
Mr. Ahiagbah said the former president must be patriotic enough and help the police bring such persons to book.
Mr. Ahiagbah made the call on the back of a claim by former president Mahama that government has deliberately been harassing NDC supporters who engage in galamsey but allowing NPP fanatics to engage in the practice with impunity.
In an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, Mr. Ahiagbah refuted the accusations and said the Akufo-Addo government has made strides in its fight against galamsey and admonished the former president to volunteer information leading to the prosecution of such people.
“When the president took control of the fight against galamsey, he engaged everyone because it is an open fight he was leading and there was no secret about it and I call others to come on board and disregard the comments of the former president”.
“If the former president knows anyone engaging in galamsey, he should tell us because all of us are united in the fight against galamsey. But we want to know the NDC supporters he said are engaged in galamsey, so they can be prosecuted for endangering our future.”
“We must be interested in what the former president was saying because it is revealing that there are NDC people who are doing galamsey, and he knows them and encourages them to keep doing it, but they are now disappointed because the fight against galamsey is successful,” Mr. Ahiagbah further stressed.
Mr. Ahiagbah further indicated that the government’s fight against galamsey has been relatively successful and appealed for a collective effort and collaboration of the public to keep it going.
“The Lands Minister is busy reclaiming galamsey lands and the fight against galamsey is ongoing, and we all have to make efforts to help make the fight a success.”
