The NDC flagbearer said galamseyers who are not members of the ruling NPP are the only ones who have been stopped from operating.

Mahama said this on Monday when he addressed some small scale miners at Agona Amenfi in the Western region.

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“President Akufo-Addo promised not to collapse galamsey but what has he done? He has stopped your work,” he said.

"What is more painful is that he has allowed his people to engage in the practice to get money whereas he has barred his opponents form doing the same. His people are still doing galamsey.”

In 2017, the Akufo-Addo government waged a war on illegal mining activities, locally known as galamsey, and placed a temporal ban on small-scale mining.

The Operation Vanguard taskforce was subsequently set up to guard the various illegal mining sites.

The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation later set up a Galamstop taskforce to support the Operation Vanguard team in fighting illegal mining.

However, recent reports indicate that illegal mining activities are still ongoing in some parts of the country.

“President Akufo-Addo seizes excavators belonging to his opponents and gives them to his party people to engage in the trade. When we come to power we will retrieve all the missing excavators and give them back to their rightful owners,” Mahama added.