Wontumi's reactions come after Mahama who is leading the the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in the 2024 general elections attributed the recent drought in the northern part of Ghana to illegal mining activities and the destruction of farmlands. Speaking at the launch of the NDC's manifesto at the University of Education, Winneba on Saturday, August 24, 2024, Mahama pledged to address illegal deforestation and galamsey, which he believes are contributing factors to the environmental challenges in the region. He said "We are going to close the forest reserves and get all those Akonta Mining and all of them who have desecrated our forest reserves. We are going to march them out of the forest reserves. Some of those trees in the forest reserves are 700, 800, and 1000 years old and just because you want to take a little gold from there, you go and destroy the whole forest reserve." John Mahama Pulse Ghana However Chairman Wontumi disagreed and argued that the difference between illegal mining and legitimate mining is documentation, and for a businessman of his calibre, acquiring legal documents is not a problem. "Can you push Wontumi?