The Institute for Progressive Governance (IPG), has expressed dismay at the hypocrisy of pro-NDC group, DemocracyHub who have been demonstrating against illegal mining operations, over its silence over the same issue when the NDC was in power and the practice was in full swing.In a statement issued by the think tank to the press, IPG expresses concern about the double standards of the group in its approach towards the fight against illegal mining operations in the country."We find it quite strange the reasons informing the group's decision to hit the streets of Accra.
Key amongst the reasons for the demonstration is the seeming failure of the government to root out illegal mining operations across the country.
While IPG is fully in support of the calls on the government and other stakeholders to ensure that illegal mining operations, popularly called 'Galamsey' are reduced to the barest minimum if not eradicated in their entirety, we also find it quite puzzling the level of hypocrisy underpinning the issues of galamsey by the pressure group" the statement reads in part.Galamsey, according to IPG, has been a cancerous phenomenon that has plagued the very existence of Ghanaians as their activities have led to the devastation of forests, pollution of water bodies and the depletion of our natural resources.Under the NDC, the statement further states, the fight against Galamsey became so difficult that the then Government's appointees threw their hands in despair.The then Environment Minister, Mahama Ayariga said it was time for the government to regularize illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) activities as measures had failed to yield the desired results because "wherever there are mineral resources people will do everything and whatever it takes to be able to extract those resources" The admission came more than three years after the then government had set up anti-galamsey taskforce in May 2013 to clamp down on the practice.Describing the challenges in fighting galamsey, Mahama Ayariga expressed shock after touring illegal mining areas where he saw in the Banda area that the miners went into the forest reserve at night to dig deep pits. "They have a way of covering it and you won't know that there is a pit there, you just won't know" he said at the time."We are asking DemocracyHub's leadership and their members, where were they when the then Mahama government gave up the fight?
Why didn't they protest against the government at the time?" IPG asks."More recent were events leading to the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections where the former president and candidate for NDC, John Dramani Mahama, and some key actors within the opposition party, were not only heard but seen promoting illegal mining activities" it further explains.Speaking at Odum Banso in the Mpohor Constituency in the Western Region on Thursday, October 22, 2020, the former President pledged that he would free all those jailed for galamsey.He told the chiefs and people that: "It's sad.