Joseph Whittal, the Commissioner of the Fee on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has criticized President Akufo-Addo for failing to sort out unlawful mining, generally referred to as ‘galamsey’.
Throughout an interview with the BBC, Mr Whittal expressed deep disappointment with the President’s failure to fulfil his promise to fight the damaging apply, which has devastated Ghana’s surroundings and poses critical well being dangers.
In line with him, the President’s silence on galamsey is worrying as a result of extreme impression of the menace on public well being.
“The Fee feels so dissatisfied within the struggle towards galamsey and artisanal mining. We’re dissatisfied that no much less an individual than the President would put his presidency on the road.
“Presidents don’t promise and fail on their guarantees. For what has occurred which has dire implications on the well being of so many Ghanaians, I have to say, the federal government and the President have dissatisfied Ghanaians,” he mentioned.
Whittal additionally agreed to requires the declaration of a state of emergency in response to the galamsey disaster, citing the urgency of the scenario.
“I’ve heard some individuals name on the President to declare a state of emergency and I truly subscribe to that. Why wait? If you happen to have a look at the air pollution and the consequences it’s already having…it seems the federal government appears unconcerned and is ignoring all these worrying traits. I don’t perceive,” he mentioned.
“If you happen to win the individuals’s vote, you’re presupposed to work for them. So this can be a disappointment from the federal government and from the President, who has lots of human rights credentials. He ought to do one thing earlier than leaving energy,” he famous.
In the meantime, the Presidential Hopeful of the New Imaginative and prescient Motion, Kofi Koranteng, has asserted that neither the New Patriotic Occasion (NPP) nor the Nationwide Democratic Congress (NDC) is prepared to see the struggle towards unlawful mining (galamsey) by means of.
In line with him, the foundation subject is just not galamsey itself, however slightly a failure in management.
He argued that each political events have worsened the issue slightly than take the mandatory actions to successfully fight the issue.
“We have now by no means had a galamsey downside. We don’t have a galamsey downside. It’s management that has failed. It isn’t galamsey that’s dangerous,” he mentioned.