\nFormer President John Mahama <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Former President John Dramani Mahama has challenged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to demonstrate the political will to fight illegal gold mining, popularly known as \u2018galamsey\u2019.<\/h2>\n
That, he said, was because some of his appointees were complicit in the illicit activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you go to the districts, they talk about community mining but the NPP executives and the District Chief Executives (DCEs) are the ones doing the community mining.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you expect him to fight \u2018galamsey\u2019 when his own people are involved in it?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The former President made the statement in an interview on TV3 last monday.<\/p>\n
His own people<\/strong><\/p>\n According to Mr Mahama, the President\u2019s own loyalists and party members had been found to be engaging in the activity because the party\u2019s executives had had concessions to illegally mine gold in forest reserves.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is close to home and that\u2019s why he can\u2019t deal with it,\u201d he emphasised.<\/p>\n The former President, therefore, said the President had failed in his fight against illegal mining because the government was aware of who the perpetrators of the activities were but had failed to take action.<\/p>\n \u201cThey all know who is doing it. The Changfang machines are there, it\u2019s not something that you can put in a handbag so how come you can\u2019t find the machines that are washing all that mud into our river bodies,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Territorial integrity<\/strong><\/p>\n Touching on the issue of Aisha Huang, Mr Mahama said the country\u2019s territorial integrity was at stake if foreigners were allowed to penetrate without check.<\/p>\n \u201cAnybody who is engaged in illegality must be sanctioned. Ghanaians who are engaged in illegal mining are languishing in prisons, they have been sentenced and jailed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Mr Mahama, therefore, said Ghanaians would feel cheated if the woman who had been accused of illegal mining was let go without prosecution.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re a Ghanaian and you are engaged in an illegality in China, you\u2019ll face the full rigours of the law and I do not doubt that there are some of our citizens in jail in China,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n He also used the opportunity to address claims that he received an ex gratia of GH\u00a2 14 million in 2014<\/p>\n \u201cThe only payment that was made to me by the government was my salary arrears of GH\u00a2 230,000 in 2013,\u201d Mr Mahama explained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n