Election threats won’t stop anti-galamsey fight – Prez

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says threats by some illegal miners to vote him out in the 2020 elections will not dissuade him in his anti-galamsey fight.

According to him, he is more concerned about national development issues and not elections.

Speaking at Soabe in the Eastern Region, the President said, “I have been told some of the people engaged in illegal mining, have threatened to vote against the NPP in 2020, if I crack the whip on the culprits. I am more concerned about fulfilling God’s purpose and devising measures to propel the nation’s development. That’s my focus and not election related issues.”

“Things we must do to propel development are the things I am concerned about. Our forefathers left us the natural resources, if we can’t protect them then we should leave them for future generations” he added.

Some residents of Prestea in the Prestea Huni-Valley District of the Western Region are resisting government’s initiative to illegal mining in the country.

According to them, illegal mining has been their source of livelihood, thus any move by government to ban the activity would render the unskilled youth in and around Prestea jobless.

But the President in his address clarified that the move by government is not aimed at stopping people from mining.

“I am only saying that, I am against those mining without legal backing. Illegal mining, that is what I am against. Today, Kyebi, Abirem, it’s a sad sight to behold. Mining along the water bodies cannot continue if we want to preserve nature and our system,” he said.