Social Commentator, Atik Mohammed, has taken a swipe at the Akufo-Addo government over the apparent lack of political will to combat galamsey activities in the country.

It could be recalled that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo pledged to place his Presidency on the line should he fail to fight galamsey.

Indeed, Ghanaians reposed confidence in him to deal with the menace but after nearly 8 years, the government is still struggling to stop it.

Today, the Ghana Water Company Limited has warned about the disaster that may befall the country if this illegal mining persists.

“About Sixty percent (60%) of the catchment capacity is silted as a result of illegal mining (galamsey) compromising the quality of raw water. We are currently recording an average turbidity of 14,000 NTU instead of 2000 NTU designed for adequate treatment”, the company released a statement.

It further cautioned against the “severe inconveniences” of these illegal activities on nation with it contaminating the water bodies with recent focus on River Pra which has turned brownish in color.

“Your assistance is crucial in helping us restore the quality of the raw water and ensure a reliable water supply of clean drinking water…”, the company urged Ghanaians.

To Atik, the nation, particularly under the current administration, has failed to deal with this perennial problem because the Commander-in-Chief has shown clear signs of unwillingness and his officials are directly involved in it.

"The political class are profiting from what is happening," he stated, adding "now, it is even worse than it was before the fight started. Currently, it is a free-for-all affair; they are doing it. Government appointees, Ministers and so forth are doing it. In fact, every one of them is involved".

"Though this is not regime specific but it's become more intense under this administration. We have to be truthful to ourselves," he said, emphasizing “this is a manifestation of the failure of this government to deal with the galamsey menace”.

He wondered how the policy to make Ghana a "green" economy will be possible when galamsey has been an albatross on the neck of the government.

 Atik, giving these comments on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" show, concluded that "the effort has gone down. The zeal is no longer existent and when we leave them to engage in the destruction, then we turn around to say that we are greening Ghana".

"Who are we fooling?...Which Ghana are we greening?", he fumed but charged the nation to "be conscious of our environment, of climate change and of sustainable mining".

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