Many people voted against Akufo-Addo for fighting galamsey - Oppong Nkrumah
The Minister said Akufo-Addo has become a victim in his fight against illegal activities
Jonas Danquah 
Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says President Akufo-Addo’s fight against illegal mining in the country, cost him votes in the 2020 polls.
According to him, the NPP government’s interest in fighting the menace was one of the main factors that led to a signinficant drop in their votes.
In an interview on Accra based Joy News, the Minister said;
“I hear people ask how come your margin dropped from 900 thousand to 500 thousand?”
“We (NPP) are clear in our minds that the fight against galamsey is one of the reasons, if you look at the returns for many of the galamsey areas, they voted heavily against the president and his candidates because at the same time, while even internal party persons were sabotaging the fight, you also have people on the other side of the political device.”
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The Akufo-Addo government in 2017 placed a temporal ban on small-scale mining, as part of its strategy in fighting against illegal mining activities, locally known as 'galamsey'
A taskforce - Operation Vanguard - was subsequently set up to guard the various illegal mining sites.
The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation later set up a Galamstop taskforce to support the Operation Vanguard team in fighting illegal mining.
However, recent reports indicate that illegal mining activities are still ongoing in some parts of the country.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said President Akufo-Addo became a victim of fighting against illegal mining activities.
“President Akufo-Addo has himself been a victim of this fight against galamsey. The reality is that there are so many people internally and externally involved in this galamsey who end up fighting any president who desires to do a good job at it,” the Information Minister added.
