Galamsey Fight: I never said I’ll declare a state of emergency—Mahama
by Ayeh Offei-Akoto · MyNewsGh.comPresident of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, has denounced claims that he said he was going to declare a state of emergency in the fight against galamsey while in opposition.
It will be recalled that while in opposition, leading figures in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) called on the then government to declare a state of emergency.
Their argument was that the menace had become worrying and that only a state of emergency was the way forward.
But addressing Ghanaians in the United States of America, the president said he never called for a state of emergency to be declared.
According to him, although a state of emergency is one of the ways to help fight galamsey, it is the last resort a government can use.
“I never ever said I will declare a state of emergency. State of Emergencies are useful but you declare them as a last resort. If you declare a state of emergency, you declare in an isolated area, you concentrate all your energy there, deal with the issue and you finish it and you lift the state of emergency. They are very temporary.
Now what people don’t understand is galamsey is in ten regions in Ghana. You declare a state of emergency; where are you going to declare a state of emergency? The thing is it goes with taking peoples rights, we can arrest you without question and we can detain you without taking you to court. That 48 rule doesn’t apply when there is a state of emergency. The point is we still have that power but we must exercise it as the last resort,” he said.
The President acknowledged that he knows where the sites are.
“Let me tell you, we know where the sites are. We have forest reserves that have had incursions into them. What we have done is nine of those forest reserves were considered red zones because of the degree of incursions into them and the fact that those in those forest reserves were armed and the forest guards could not go there for fear of their lives. Today, those nine forest reserves the army has cleared all the people out of them,” he said.
He further indicated that unlike previously, when the military leaves after clearing the place, they now set up their camps in those forest reserves to prevent the people from coming back to mine in the forest reserves.
Source: MyNewsGh.com
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