A prominent New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmaker has lambasted the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) for what he termed a “deceptive campaign” against former President Nana Akufo-Addo on illegal mining, demanding an immediate and unqualified apology as evidence mounts that the new administration is failing to curb the rampant galamsey activities it once decried.
Kennedy Nyarko Osei, the MP for Akim Swedru, issued the call during a fiery address on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Tuesday, accusing the NDC of weaponizing the environmental crisis for electoral gain while now presiding over an escalation in forest reserve encroachments and river pollution.
“The NDC must offer an unqualified apology to President Akufo-Addo and Ghanaians for the hypocrisy,”
Osei declared, pointing to Lands Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah’s recent admission that nine of Ghana’s 44 forest reserves have been “completely taken over” by illegal miners—a stark contrast to the party’s 2024 campaign vows to eradicate the menace within 100 days.
Osei’s remarks echo a growing chorus from NPP ranks, amplified by recent incidents including an alleged attack on security personnel by NDC-linked operatives in mining hotspots. He cited the suspension of AngloGold Ashanti operations in 2014 under the prior NDC regime due to unchecked galamsey, juxtaposed against Akufo-Addo’s 2017 moratorium and Operation Vanguard, which seized over 2,000 changfans and arrested thousands despite political sabotage.
“They called his fight a ‘scam’ to enrich cronies, yet today their MPs lead thugs against enforcers. This is the real deception,”
Osei fumed, referencing a November 7 parliamentary clash where former Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul accused NDC figures of being “neck-deep” in the illicit trade.
The controversy reignited amid Buah’s February 19, 2025, parliamentary alert on the “national crisis” of galamsey’s toll on water bodies and health, prompting Adomako-Mensah’s February 20 Facebook post questioning: “I thought galamsey was Akufo-Addo’s problem?” Organized Labour’s October 2024 strike threats and Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng’s leaked 2023 report—detailing NPP insiders’ interference—had fueled NDC narratives of Akufo-Addo’s insincerity, but Osei dismissed it as selective outrage, noting the document’s calls for bipartisan action ignored by the opposition.
NPP Youth Organizer Salam Mustapha echoed the sentiment in April, urging Mahama to apologize for unfulfilled promises as NDC affiliates reportedly clashed with authorities in mining areas.
Former Bosomefreho MP Akwasi Darko Boateng, in September, branded the NDC’s pre-election rhetoric “exploitation for votes,” warning of worsened destruction under their watch. Energy analyst Kwadwo Poku, on Newsfile in late September, alleged NDC canvassing in 2020 and 2024 mining communities undermined Akufo-Addo’s stake-his-presidency pledge, costing NPP seats like Upper Denkyira West.
As the Mahama administration grapples with the surge—exacerbated by economic pressures driving youth into artisanal mining—Osei called for chiefs-led enforcement and rejected politicization. “Galamsey knows no party; it destroys us all. But lies do too—start with the apology,” he urged. The NDC has yet to respond, but with public health alarms over polluted Pra and Ankobra rivers, the bipartisan blame game risks deepening the ecological scar on Ghana’s gold-rich heartlands.
