The Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, has pushed back against growing criticism of President John Dramani Mahama’s approach to tackling illegal mining, insisting that the government’s actions in the past nine months reflect firm leadership and measurable results.
Reacting to an upcoming JoyNews investigative documentary on the government’s “Stop Galamsey” campaign, Mr. Tameklo argued that President Mahama has demonstrated the political will to confront one of Ghana’s toughest environmental crises head-on.
In a Facebook post, he praised the President’s commitment, writing: “President John Dramani Mahama does not run away from problems. He will solve this problem.”
Mr. Tameklo outlined several achievements under the current anti-galamsey drive, including the destruction of more than 400 chamfang machines, the confiscation of over 500 excavators, and the seizure of more than 1,000 pumping machines used in illegal mining operations.
According to him, these bold interventions have begun to yield visible improvements in the state of the nation’s rivers and forest reserves — areas long devastated by illegal mining.
The NDC legal chief questioned whether the President was being judged too harshly given the short period since his assumption of office. “Is nine months enough time to rebuke the President? Can we honestly say the state of affairs would have been better or worse without these bold actions?” he asked.
He also cautioned against what he described as attempts to “rubbish” the President’s environmental efforts through skewed narratives, calling on the media to uphold fairness and context in their reporting.
“I respect the constitutional role of the media in ensuring accountability and transparency,” he said, “but environmental policy demands balanced and responsible journalism that recognizes both challenges and progress.”
Mr. Tameklo’s comments come as the nation awaits the JoyNews exposé, which is expected to scrutinize the effectiveness and transparency of the government’s anti-galamsey campaign.
