Former Chief of Staff under the Kufuor administration, Kwadwo Mpiani, has called on the government to address the issue of illegal mining, known as galamsey, without worrying about political repercussions.
This was in response to comments made by NPP Member of Parliament for Effiduase Asokore and Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee, Dr. Ayew Afriyie, who had stated that the government would not ban galamsey due to the political risks it may pose.
However, in an interview on Joy FM on October 2, 2024, Mpiani stated that the priority should be finding a solution to galamsey rather than focusing on how many parliamentary seats may be lost.
“Find a solution to the problem and forget the partisanship of losing seats. If you take the whole country, where this illegal mining is ongoing, how many seats did the government lose?” he questioned.
Mpiani argued that the lives and well-being of citizens are more important than elections.
He pointed out that winning elections would be meaningless if the negative impacts of illegal mining on the environment and public health were not addressed.
“If you want to prove to me that you lost seats because of that, my advice will be to find a way out of the solution,” he stated.
