Trusting Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, the presidential candidate of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to stop the devastation of the country’s forest resources is equal to trusting a pyromaniac to stop fires, a member of the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) communications team has said.

According Vincent Letsa Kobla Djokoto, the current administration has shown gross disregard for calls to put an end to the depletion of forest reserves across the country and thus, trusting their candidate, Dr. Bawumia with the presidency in a bid to end the menace is futile.

“The best way to change the minds of Ghanaians is for the government to heed calls to suspend the spree of mining licenses granted to their cronies to mine in our forest reserves,” Mr. Djokoto told Joy News in a discussion on the adverse effects of galamsey.

He added that the continuous disregard for calls to save the country’s forests shows that the government is merely paying lip service to the fight to protect the country’s water bodies, and forests.

“What kind of politicians, while posing as occupants of the moral high ground do this when they are supposed to maintain strict integrity while governing the country? Placing our fragile and crucial policy in the hands of Bawumia and the NPP is like entrusting the fire service to a pyromaniac,” Mr. Djokoto said.

• Read also: Why are we giving licenses to mine in forest reserves? – Nana Akomea

His comments follow reports which have found that President Akufo-Addo has issued a number of licenses to members and cronies of the NPP to mine in the country’s forest reserves pursuant to a Legislative Instrument despite a substantive enactment proscribing the same.  

Research by The Fourth Estate found that beneficiaries of these grants include the Ashanti Regional Chair of the NPP Bernard Antwi Boasiako, alias Chairman Wontumi.

Many stakeholders and Civil Society Organizations have called for a repeal of the Legislative Instrument but no action has yet been taken.

Recently, the Research Staff Association (RSA) and the Research Scientists Association (RSA) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) added their voice to the calls

“We further demand that Parliament be urgently recalled to immediately repeal the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulation 2022 (L.I. 2462), which permits mining in forest reserves,” the groups said in a statement.

Calling on voters to oust the NPP in the upcoming December 2024 general elections, Mr. Djokoto who is also the Managing Partner of D.K.T. Djokoto & Co. described the economic situation of the country as dystopic, adding that “we must exit an eight-year period of repression, anti-growth policies and punitive taxation.”