A leading member of the Movement for Change (MfC), Richard Sumah has recommended capital punishment for illegal mining offenders, urging the government to put all who are found guilty of Galamsey to death.
According to him, illegal miners pose a serious threat to national security and should be brought to a most definite stop in this manner, which would in turn effectively terminate the menace.
“People should be sentenced to death for practicing Galamsey. If they are arrested and they’ve been able to admit that they’ve been involved in Galamsey, they should be given life sentences or be put to death”
Richard Sumah, MfC Leading Member
This will serve as a potent deterrent to others who may be tempted to follow in the footsteps of galamsey enriched individuals in the country.
Richard Sumah asserted that if the government adopted such radical punitive measures, it will make strides unlike any other, in the fight against illegal mining, eventually bringing it to an end.
Despite commending President’s Mahama’s radicalism in the fight so far, he admitted that it was currently inadequate to end galamsey once and for good.
However, he posited that the president was the best person for the actions needed to save the country from the brink of destruction.
“John Dramani Mahama is taking some radical decisions simply because he knows obviously he’s not coming to contest again to become the next president of Ghana.
“So this opportunity presents him the finest moment to combat Galamsey and to leave a lasting legacy for posterity to remember him for”
Richard Sumah, MfC Leading Member
According to him, despite the advantages the president’s last term presents to reform Ghana and leave a lasting legacy, the people who helped him will be a hindrance to his mission.
He mentioned that NDC party financiers and political bigwigs who funded President Mahama’s campaign and eventually brought him back to power would not allow their sources of wealth to be terminated, especially if they are involved in illegal mining.
“They pushed him to get to the top so you know, in as much as he may want to fight Galamsey, there are big wigs, there are other external forces that are weighing heavily on him.
“He cannot fight Galamsey tooth and nail because at the end of the day, the more he tries to do that, the more he’s stepping on the toes of others”
Richard Sumah, MfC Leading Member
He emphasised that those from the party involved in illegal mining would sabotage all efforts against it.
This conflict, he predicted, would be the bane of any government that tries to end illegal mining without resorting to the most drastic measure; the death penalty.
“All I’m trying to say is that if you really want to combat Galamsey, it should be a deliberate policy. The punishment for people who are involved in Galamsey should be punitive enough”
Richard Sumah, MfC Leading Member
However he acknowledged that the lackadaisical attitude of Ghanaians, coupled with corruption, would make it near impossible for the nation to resort to such extremes.
“Whatever we do, there are political wigs out there who with a simple phone call can say, ‘oh, chale, they are my boys, you leave them’”
Richard Sumah, MfC Leading Member
The NDC Are No Saints
Furthering his point, Sumah narrated why the fight against galamsey cannot be solved with mere rhetoric and party propaganda, emphasising that there are no saints.
He cautioned the public against the antics of the NDC government, suggesting that their words and even actions, though commendable, held no real solutions to the problem on the ground.
“Now, if they are creating this impression as if they are saints, therefore, when it comes to the fight against Galamsey, and that they are going to do something different from what NPP did, it is a complete hoax; it is a lie”
Richard Sumah, MfC Leading Member
According to Sumah, the base of the NDC is just as broad and ordinary as the rest of the other political parties, particularly the NPP, for the party to boast of any uniqueness in its galamsey fighting strategy.
If anything the NDC government’s approach was hypocritical and deadlier. He argued that the party was two faced in stealing from the people of Ghana.
Whether it happens underground or out in the public eye, Sumah is convinced that the party had two types of thieves operating within and plundering the nation.
He explained that even if all were not involved, majority of them were, which made the NDC just as bad as the NPP, if not worse.
Having cited all the challenges the NDC is likely to face from their own internal systems and the war without, he cautioned the party and the government against a prideful parade when the work has barely begun.
He drew attention to former President Akuffo Addo, who “put his presidency on the line,” to end galamsey but “performed abysmally,” as a cautionary tale.
“All we are trying to say and to admonish our NDC friends is that don’t ever create the impression that ‘we are saints and therefore we are never going to participate in illegal mining – and there is no big wig within the NDC fraternity that will participate in illegal mining.’ It’s a lie”
Richard Sumah, MfC Leading Member
He lauded the president’s efforts in combating galamsey once more, attributing it to his desire to leave a legacy and charged the party to do its best to humbly assist him.
However he reminded the NDC that out of its government machinery, the broad based membership was bound to have illegal mining offenders in there, most likely operating in the name of the party.
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