Security analyst Professor Kwesi Aning asserts that the demands of organized labour highlight the government’s failure to take action against illegal mining (galamsey).
Prof. Aning emphasized that the government has not treated the issue with the seriousness it deserves, allowing it to escalate into a significant national problem.
He argues that the government must declare a state of emergency when a crisis is evident, rather than waiting for citizens to apply pressure for change.
“It’s the government that declares a state of emergency and not the citizenry that demands that the government do so,” he said on October 9.
He explained that a government typically declares a state of emergency to implement extraordinary measures in response to a crisis.
However, in Ghana’s case, the process seems to be reversed. Organized labour and citizens are now the ones urging the government to address the urgent and severe issues surrounding the galamsey crisis more swiftly.
“Now it’s on record that Mr Jinapor is against this declaration and he talks about cabals. Cabals don’t issue licenses, they don’t just get up from outside one’s country and enter somebody’s sovereign territory to do what is taking place.
“So if he knows there are cabals, why has it taken him so long to act? So there is a certain lack of seriousness,” he said.
Prof Aning said that Ghana is facing an existential crisis and that the government has shown neither commitment nor seriousness in tackling the galamsey issue.
He criticised Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor’s statements regarding the government’s efforts, describing them as reactive rather than addressing the root of the problem.
“He [Abu Jinapor] has been telling us about drones, speed boats, there is a certain lack of seriousness on how the extent of this problem is understood, the willingness to take the extraordinary political measures beyond the realm of the normal to be able to deal with this,” he said in an interview on Joy News.