Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Osman Ayariga, has declared his full support for President John Dramani Mahama’s position that there is no need to declare a state of emergency in the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.
“I support 100% based on what the president is saying because he has been properly advised and properly briefed and is not just for us to decide that we have to go on a state of emergency,” Ayariga said on Channel One Newsroom.
He noted that the current situation is markedly different from what existed under the previous administration.
“Mind you, there are exigencies that existed during the NPP era that are quite different from what exist today.
“Even if in the previous administration we were calling for a state of emergency, the dynamics have changed now because there are so many structures we have put in place in fighting galamsey,” he explained.
In a related development, Director of Communications for the Bawumia Campaign Team, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has argued that former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo deserves recognition for demonstrating that the fight against galamsey could yield results.
Speaking on Newsfile on JoyNews, Aboagye said Akufo-Addo’s administration was the first to show real progress in addressing the crisis of polluted water bodies.
“I think that the way the president and the NDC managed to turn the entire country against Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the way they managed to politicise galamsey, is one of the reasons why Akufo-Addo could not complete the fight against galamsey,” he argued.
According to him, no previous leader had matched the early gains made under Akufo-Addo’s presidency.
Source:Lovinghananews.com
