Manasseh lost his cool and took to his Facebook page to, among other things, say that the President “is not serious about the fight” against the practice that has come to be known popularly as galamsey.
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We didn’t beg you to be president; step down – Angry Manasseh slams Akufo-Addo
Investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has lambasted President Akufo-Addo, asking him to step down because he has deliberately failed to redeem Ghana from the illegal mining menace that is threatening the very existence of the country.
Akufo-Addo and Manasseh
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On Wednesday, October 5, 2022, Akufo-Addo reiterated his commitment to stopping illegal mining and saving Ghana’s water bodies, farmlands and forest reserves. This was after he held a meeting with MMDCEs and the National House of Chiefs in Manhyia, Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region.
Reacting to the meeting and the President’s speech, Manasseh said the entire exercise was a joke, and that it should have been held at a concert house.
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“President Akufo-Addo met the National House of Chiefs at Manhyia today to discuss the fight against galamsey. I was happy I didn't see the Asantehene at that joke of a meeting, but they could have looked for a concert house for that meeting,” Manasseh wrote.
“Is Akufo-Addo saying if the illegal miners were rebels, Ghana's security forces would watch them helplessly so that they kill us?
“If he cannot lead the police, military and all the human resources under his command to stop galamsey, then he should step down as president.”
According to him, although chiefs are not saints, they don’t hold the key to ending illegal mining per se, and should not be blamed for its booming. He said the buck stops with Akufo-Addo as the Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, and the appointor of almost every public servant in whose jurisdiction the galamsey activities are ongoing.
“The chiefs have their own issues, but they should not be blamed for our inability to stop the illegal mining that is threatening our land and our survival. Even the stupidest person in Akufo-Addo's cabinet knows the solution to the galamsey problem.
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“The problem is that the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces is not serious about the fight. Who deploys the soldiers to supervise and guard illegal mining and licensed illegal mining activities? Who appoints the defence minister and the CDS? Who appoints the Regional Ministers and MMDCEs, who chair the regional and district security councils? If they are all failing why do we blame the chiefs? Does Akufo-Addo need permission from the chiefs to fire an appointee who is not doing his or her work?” he quizzed.
As to how the menace can be curtailed, Manasseh said: “If Akufo-Addo sends a message that any DCE or MCE who allows galamsey to happen in their district will be fired and prosecuted, it will stop next week. The MDEs and DCEs will save their jobs and stop the party executives from mining. They will expose the so-called big wigs behind the destructive concessions in the forests.
"Our nation is dying and the jokes of seminars and meetings should stop.”
Illegal mining has dominated conversations in all media platforms across the country over the past weeks following the arrest of a supposed deported Aisha Huang, a popular Chinese national who is reported to have re-entered the country to resume the very illegalities for which she was arrested in 2018 and sent back to her country.
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It emerged later that she had not been deported as the government told Ghanaians but repatriated instead.
She and other compatriots of hers are currently on remand waiting to be prosecuted.
Illegal mining activities have rendered Ghana’s water bodies dangerously turbid, posing health risks to the country’s population, and making fish and food crops unsafe for consumption.
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