Galamsey: Even Lucifer is envious of the level of greed in this country – Dr Randy Abbey

Renowned broadcaster Dr. Randy Abbey lost his cool on his Good Morning Ghana programme on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.

The broadcaster could not hide his displeasure at what he described as the failure of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government to stop the menace of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

He indicated that the extent to which galamsey has been allowed to destroy Ghana’s forest reserves and water bodies only points to the fact that the state is on the verge of collapse and has no leaders.

“We are pretending that we are not a failed state, to be honest. From the national security point of view, the issue about terrorism and the money we spend on terrorism and some conflicts and all that, I’m not saying it’s not important, but look, the galamsey issue, in my view, is worse than the threat of terrorism. It is worse, it is far worse than the threat of terrorism.

“The point is that this whole thing, this thing thrives, it gets worse because of impunity. Impunity arises out of inaction. There’s one of the videos that we play where the guy said they ‘won’t stop today, and that if you can’t stop the Chinese people from doing it, why do you want to stop them, the indigenous? If others can come from elsewhere to come and do it, then why not them? We would pollute the water today; we would pollute it tomorrow’.

He added, “It’s like we’re in a rudderless ship. It’s like there’s no leadership – there’s nothing. There’s nothing. I don’t know how people wake up and call themselves leaders when you have such a level of impunity and you have such a level of degeneration. And this one will affect everybody.”

Dr Abbey also said that the greediness of Ghanaians has gotten the country to this point; saying, “I don’t know, I mean, where this level of greed comes from. The level of greed in this country, I am sure even Lucifer is astonished, he will be astonished by the level of greed.

He added that the government had already given up the fight against galamsey by withdrawing the soldiers and other security officers who were fighting it.

“Didn’t we see the regional minister and the parliamentary candidate talking to the miners and telling them all the things they told them? That was in the Western Region, was this not, were they not those who announced the first time that we heard that all those interventions by the military, everything has been stopped and is it not the truth? When was the last time you heard of an operation? The level of greed in this country, even Lucifer will be envious.”