'Give Us Some Break' - Lands Minister to Opposition on Galamsey Crisis

He alleged that nearly 27,000 mining licences were issued under the former government, a number he described as “unprecedented in the history of this country”, claiming it opened the floodgates for political operatives to exploit Ghana’s forests and waterways.

While acknowledging the urgency of tackling the crisis, the Minister stressed that reversing years of destruction would take time. “The level of destruction that this new government came to meet, we are under no illusion that this is going to be solved in eight months,” he said. “But we are proud of what we are doing, we are seeing the progress, and every time we believe we have to strengthen what we are doing, we do.”

Mr. Buah also noted that the government remains receptive to constructive criticism, differentiating it from what he described as politically motivated attacks. “We believe those who are really calling for the government to do more, we understand. This is a listening government, we are going to do more and we appreciate it,” he assured.

However, he reiterated that critics who, in his view, helped create the problem lack credibility. “They should really give us some break, and they should give us some room,” he repeated.