Minority Chief Whip Frank Annoh-Dompreh has chastised the Mahama led government for “paying lip service” to the fight against illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey.
His comments came during the parliamentary consideration of the budgetary estimates for the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry, which received an allocation of 1.8 billion cedis.
Annoh-Dompreh expressed disappointment that the budget, meant to cover the ministry’s activities for an entire year, failed to include a dedicated allocation for combating illegal mining.
He questioned the government’s commitment to addressing the galamsey menace, which has caused significant environmental and economic damage.
“The big fish here is galamsey, we can’t pretend about it. I’m disturbed. I have gone through the 19-page report, and there is no dedicated expression on galamsey, why?” he quizzed.
The Minority Chief Whip called for urgent discussions to ensure that adequate resources are made available to the Lands Ministry for the fight against illegal mining.
He urged the parliamentary committee to engage the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources to address the issue.
“It is regrettable, totally regrettable. You can’t justify this. There should be a definite expression for the fight against galamsey; we can’t leave it as it is,” he added.
In September 2024, the then Majority Chief Whip and Nsawam-Adoagyiri MP, Frank Annoh-Dompreh claimed that the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government polluted water bodies more than the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
Responding to the minority’s concerns about the government’s failure to tackle the galamsey menace during an emergency sitting of parliament in Accra on Tuesday, September 3, Mr Annoh-Dompreh asserted that an investigation would reveal that the NDC caused more water pollution during their tenure.
