Galamsey: ‘I won’t act on hearsay, mere allegations’; give me evidence – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo has said his fight against illegal small-scale mining will not be based on hearsay and unsubstantiated allegations.

At a national dialogue on small-scale mining organised by the Minister of Land and Natural Resources in Accra on Wednesday, 14 April 2021, President Akufo-Addo, who has been criticised in the past for letting some of his appointees, who have been accused of aiding and abetting galamsey activities go scot-free, said he will only act on such whistle-blowing based on evidence.

“I’m determined to enforce the laws of illegal mining no matter the subject – high or low”, the President said.

“I’ll, however, not act on hearsay or mere allegations without law”, he noted.

However, he added: “I will not hesitate to act when the evidence is hard before the police and I would do so irrespective of the standing of the person or persons involved”.

That, according to him, “is the true meaning of equality before the law”.

Mr Akufo-Addo also said: “I want to build on the modest progress made in my first term”.

“I want to learn from our shortcomings and receive productive input from this forum for purposes of enhancing the regulation of the sector”, he noted.

He said: “Out of this consultative dialogue, I hope we’ll build a national consensus around a national policy on small-scale mining”.

Hopefully, he noted, “at the end of the day, we should be able to build a broad-based national consensus around the necessity to stamp out the menace of illegal small-scale mining and the need to support and grow a responsible small-scale mining”.