Minority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has accused the government of actively enabling illegal mining, arguing that its decision to mandate the Gold Board to purchase gold from small-scale miners effectively provides financial support for galamsey operations.
Speaking on Thursday, November 27, during a debate on the 2026 Budget Statement and Economic Policy in Parliament, Mr. Afenyo-Markin sharply criticised the government’s stance on illegal mining.
“Mr Speaker, this government has surrendered to the galamsey activities. This government has become its enabler,” he declared.
He argued that the budget’s proposal empowering the Gold Board to buy gold from small-scale miners directly contradicts the government’s repeated claims of cracking down on illegal mining.
“In this budget, the government announced the Gold Board to purchase gold from small-scale miners. They are not fighting illegal mining. The NDC government, through the Gold Board, is rather financing it. This is giving it state endorsement,” he asserted.
The Minority Leader also condemned the government’s inability to protect members of NAIMOS, noting that the organisation’s anti-galamsey volunteers continue to suffer harm despite their efforts.
“Mr Speaker, today, members of NAIMOS are getting hurt, dead, and shot in a fight their own government has abandoned. Eight lives were lost on their way to launch a programme to fight illegal mining,” he lamented.
He insisted that establishing a Gold Board without a credible tracking and verification system only deepens complicity within the mining sector.
“Today, their own government is demonstrating neither the seriousness nor commitment necessary to defeat it. Instead, it has set up a Gold Board to buy gold it cannot trace from miners it cannot verify, in a system designed for complicity rather than enforcement. If this government cannot trace the gold, it must not buy the gold,” Mr. Afenyo-Markin stressed.
