Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, has dismissed John Dramani Mahama’s promise to use Artificial Intelligence to combat illegal mining if elected president as mere political rhetoric.
Mr Ahiagbah stated on his X handle that it would be impossible to effectively tackle galamsey with Mahama as president, accusing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of supporting illegal mining activities.
“The NDC are promoters of galamsey. Therefore, H.E Mahama’s promise to use AI-powered plan to combat galamsey is a vote-seeking gimmick. Galamsey is an existential problem that requires inputs from all strata of society to combat. Resolving the galamsey menace is impossible with H.E John Mahama and the NDC because they are promoters and beneficiaries of galamsey.”
During an address at the 3rd Annual Transformational Dialogue on Small-scale Mining at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) in Sunyani, John Dramani Mahama stated that his government would utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) to locate all small-scale mining and galamsey operations, track excavators, and geofence all concessions.
This approach aims to coordinate and monitor activities within the small-scale mining sector to reduce environmental destruction.
Richard Ahiagbah, the Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), referenced several instances to support his assertion that fighting galamsey under a Mahama administration would be ineffective.
He cited a 2020 video of Kwaku Boahen, then Deputy Communications Officer of the NDC, promising a “golden age of galamsey” to voters in mining communities, as well as Mahama’s promise to free galamsey convicts in 2020 at a campaign event in Mpohor.
