Michael Kosi Dedey slams politicians over misplaced priorities on galamsey
Engineer and Policy Analyst, Michael Kosi Dedey, has criticised Ghana’s political leaders for what he described as their lack of seriousness in tackling galamsey and other pressing national issues.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, Mr. Dedey argued that politicians show far greater commitment and deploy more resources during elections than when addressing challenges of national concern.
“The amount of resources we deploy for elections is phenomenal, because the political interest has become so keen for our political players. But when it comes to addressing national issues, you won’t find the same level of interest in the deployment of resources. For instance, typical again is galamsey,” he explained.
He cited the just-ended Akwatia by-election as an example of this imbalance, noting that while thousands of police officers, soldiers, and government officials were sent to oversee the poll, the same urgency is lacking in the fight against illegal mining.
“Akwatia is one constituency out of the 276 in this country. For one election, you hear 5,000 policemen were deployed, soldiers, ministers, everybody was driving there. But when it comes to fighting galamsey, you don’t see 5,000 policemen, you don’t see the amount of soldiers, you don’t see ministers going in there and showing interest. That is the worrying thing,” he said.
Mr. Dedey accused politicians of prioritising their personal ambitions over the wellbeing of ordinary citizens. “It looks like the politicians are more interested in their own interests than the national interest,” he added.
His comments come after the deployment of more than 5,000 security personnel, alongside ministers and other officials, to ensure order during the Akwatia by-election on Tuesday, September 2, 2025. The poll was eventually won by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, Bernard Bediako Baidoo, with 18,199 votes out of 33,819 valid ballots cast.
