Former Vice President and New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of failing to tackle illegal small-scale mining, popularly known as galamsey, despite its strong promises to address the problem.
According to Dr Bawumia, the galamsey menace has become “embarrassingly worse” under the NDC government in nearly two years, describing the issue as a complex national challenge that requires sustained and serious action rather than political slogans.
He made the remarks on Saturday, October 3, 2026, when he addressed the NPP’s National Delegates Conference in Kumasi.
Dr Bawumia acknowledged that illegal mining has challenged successive governments under Ghana’s Fourth Republic, but said the NDC made particularly strong commitments to dealing with the problem when it sought the mandate of Ghanaians.
“Galamsey has troubled almost every government in the Fourth Republic. It is a complex national challenge that demands seriousness, not slogans,” he said.
He argued that the NDC, while in opposition, promised to resolve the galamsey crisis within months of assuming office and restore polluted water bodies to their natural state.
However, he said developments since the party returned to government had fallen short of those promises.
“Today, under their watch, in nearly two years, galamsey has grown exponentially, embarrassingly worse,” Dr Bawumia stated.
He further criticised what he described as a pattern of unfulfilled promises by the government across several sectors.
Dr Bawumia cited the government’s promise to cocoa farmers to increase the producer price of cocoa to GH¢6,500, as well as pledges relating to the automatic posting of teachers and nurses and improvements in their conditions of service.
He also mentioned the promise to abolish the teacher licensure examination and commitments concerning the payment of customers affected by the collapse of banks and other financial institutions.
According to him, these commitments, alongside the government’s much-publicised “Nkoko Nkitinkiti” initiative, had not delivered the outcomes promised to Ghanaians.
“These are the records of the NDC two years on,” he told the delegates.
Dr Bawumia said the NPP must use the period ahead to strengthen its structures, hold the government accountable and present credible policy alternatives to the electorate.
Addressing the newly elected national executives of the party, he said the immediate task is to build a strong party machinery capable of supporting the NPP’s policy agenda and preparations for the 2029 general election.
“To the incoming executives, the task ahead is clear: to build a strong party machinery on which the policies we are building and the campaign we will set up can ride to victory in 2029,” he said.
He urged party members to maintain unity and discipline while focusing their energies on scrutinising the performance of the NDC government and communicating the NPP’s policies to Ghanaians.
“This requires us to keep our ranks close, keep our focus on holding the NDC to account, put our best energies into the selling of our policies and give every Ghanaian a reason to believe in the NPP,” he said.
Dr Bawumia further assured the delegates that the NPP would draw lessons from both its achievements and shortcomings in government if it returned to power.
He said an NPP government in 2029 would seek to apply those lessons to improve governance and address challenges that, in his view, the current administration had failed to resolve.
“I assure you that, inshallah, when the NPP assumes the reins of office in 2029, we shall bring to bear the lessons of our successes and the challenges to do a way better job in these and other areas than this government is doing,” he stated.
He urged the party to remain united and disciplined as it prepares for the next electoral cycle, saying Ghana deserved a government focused on progress and transformation.
“If we do these things with discipline and unity, in 2029 we will have the task of moving this nation from a place of vengeance and attacks by a few onto a path of progress and transformation for many,” Dr Bawumia said.
By 1960news.com
