National Coordinator of the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP), Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, has stated that it is unrealistic to expect significant changes in Ghana's polluted rivers within the first 120 days of a government's anti-galamsey campaign, emphasising that environmental recovery is a process, not an event.
Speaking on Channel One TV's Breakfast Daily on Thursday, May 8, he stressed that although government efforts to combat illegal mining (galamsey) are commendable, measurable outcomes like clean water bodies cannot be achieved in such a short period. "If the government says it will end galamsey, it is not an event, it is a process.
Every indication shows that the colour of our rivers has not changed, and they cannot change under 120 days, no matter what you do," he said.
He noted that while river conditions remain visibly poor, stakeholders in the fight against galamsey, including civil society organisations and non-governmental bodies, have acknowledged a heightened level of effort in recent months. "Everyone, including all these CSOs and NGOs involved in the galamsey fight, has concluded that they have seen a great effort being made if for nothing at all.
