Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has promised to uplift small-scale miners to millionaire status if elected president.
During an engagement with small-scale miners in the Western Region as part of his Nationwide Tour, Dr. Bawumia outlined his vision to revolutionize the mining sector for the benefit of local miners.
“We will talk to the big mining companies; abandoned shafts, we will open them as community mining schemes for our people, and the new places that we will discover, we will open them. We will create jobs for our people, we will make you millionaires and we will make you rich, that is what we are going to do,” he affirmed.
However, the pledge has been met with skepticism by some small-scale miners. Michael Kojo Peprah, President of the Small-Scale Miners Association, dismissed Bawumia’s promise as political rhetoric, citing the hardships endured by small-scale miners under the current government.
“I think he is just trying to lie to us. We became very poor when his government came into power. That was when they placed a one-year ban on our sector. We were in this country when the government started burning excavators when they brought about this operation Vanguard,” Peprah expressed.
He highlighted the challenges faced by small-scale miners, including the one-year ban on their sector and the controversial Operation Vanguard. Peprah criticized the government’s handling of the situation, questioning why significant changes haven’t been made despite having eight months remaining in their term.
Email Daily Mail GH: stories@dailymailgh.com or
Whatsapp: +233(0)509928122
