The Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin is alleging that the establishment of the Ghana Gold Board and the move to purchase gold from small-scale miners effectively finances galamsey activities.
Concluding the debate on the 2026 budget statement from the side of the Minority on Thursday, November 27, Afenyo-Markin opined that the ruling government has “surrendered” to illegal mining activities instead of dealing with them once and for all.
The Effutu Member of Parliament asserted that the government has allocated resources to GoldBod because it supports illegal mining activities.
“This government has surrendered to the galamsey activities. This government has become its enabler,” he stated.
“In this budget, the government announced the Gold Board to purchase gold from small-scale miners. They are not fighting illegal mining. The NDC government, through the Gold Board, is rather financing it. This is giving it state endorsement,” he said.
He went on to state that members of NAIMOS in their quest to fight against galamsey are faced with danger, while the government shows no interest in the fight against the canker destroying our environment.
“Today, members of NAIMOS are getting hurt, dead, and shot at in a fight their own government has abandoned. Eight lives were lost on their way to launch a programme to fight illegal mining,” he lamented.
“Today, their own government is demonstrating neither the seriousness nor commitment necessary to defeat it. Instead, it has set up a Gold Board to buy gold it cannot trace from miners it cannot verify in a system designed for complicity rather than enforcement. If this government cannot trace the gold, it must not buy the gold,” he added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
