 menace, accusing them of bearing direct responsibility for the destruction his ministry is working to reverse.){kind=link}
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has pushed back against political critics of the government’s handling of the illegal mining (galamsey) menace, accusing them of bearing direct responsibility for the destruction his ministry is working to reverse.
Speaking on GTV’s Breakfast Show, the Minister said the scale of environmental degradation the government inherited was the result of mismanagement and reckless licensing by the previous administration.
“Those political apparatchiks who have caused the damage that we are trying to solve, they should really give us some break, and they should give us some room,” Mr. Buah said.
He alleged that nearly 27,000 mining licences were issued under the former government, a number he described as “unprecedented in the history of this country”, claiming it opened the floodgates for political operatives to exploit Ghana’s forests and waterways.
While acknowledging the urgency of tackling the crisis, the Minister stressed that reversing years of destruction would take time. “The level of destruction that this new government came to meet, we are under no illusion that this is going to be solved in eight months,” he said. “But we are proud of what we are doing, we are seeing the progress, and every time we believe we have to strengthen what we are doing, we do.”
Mr. Buah also noted that the government remains receptive to constructive criticism, differentiating it from what he described as politically motivated attacks. “We believe those who are really calling for the government to do more, we understand. This is a listening government, we are going to do more and we appreciate it,” he assured.
However, he reiterated that critics who, in his view, helped create the problem lack credibility. “They should really give us some break, and they should give us some room,” he repeated.