Galamsey fight: We will not get anywhere if we continue the blame game – Afenyo-Markin

Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has cautioned that the fight against illegal gold mining, popularly known as galamsey, will continue to fail if political parties persist in turning the issue into a partisan contest.

According to him, the entrenched blame game between the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National

Democratic Congress (NDC) has undermined national efforts to curb the destructive practice, which continues to devastate the country’s water bodies, forests, and farmlands.

Speaking at a seminar organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) on Ghana’s natural resource management on Tuesday, October 7, Afenyo-Markin said politicians must rise above partisan interests and adopt a collective, patriotic approach to resource protection.

He observed that political narratives during the 2020 general elections worsened the situation, as some campaign messages sought to exploit public resentment over the government’s anti-galamsey operations.

“During the 2020 campaign, the message was that the NPP had come to take your food away, so vote against them. That narrative gained traction in mining communities and contributed to the challenges we face today,” he said. “If we keep doing the blame game thing, we will not get anywhere.”

Afenyo-Markin stressed that the galamsey menace should be treated as a national emergency rather than a political weapon.

“I think it goes beyond NPP and NDC arguments. As a nation, we need a complete reorientation,” he asserted. “Frankly speaking, we have all failed our country. We must let the authorities know that there are no alternatives — this must stop.”

His remarks come amid renewed calls from civil society, traditional leaders, and environmental activists for stronger, coordinated measures to end illegal mining and restore Ghana’s degraded environment.