Does the Manifesto Launched by the Ghana Union Movement present a greater threat to major political parties ( NDC and NPP) in this year’s general elections?.

Africa News Arena.com’s deputy editor Muhammad Faisel Mustapha reports that the Ghana Union Movement (GUM) over the weekend portrayed a unique strategic opportunity to wrestle power from the ruling NPP in the upcoming elections.

It is palpable that Ghanaians have had enough of the two-party system (NDC, NPP) of governance.

This came to light during the launch of the party’s manifesto in the nation’s capital where multitudes of GUM sympathizers expressed their willingness and readiness to campaign and vote GUM into power.

The enthusiasm shown by the youth as well as the aged at the manifesto launch is an indication of how the majority of the population are fed up with the two largest political parties in the country.

The founder and flagbearer of GUM, Pastor Christian Kwabena Andrew popularly known as Osofuo Kyiri Abosom was hailed by Ghanaians from all walks of life for his bid to restore the ideology of the country’s first President Osagyfo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

Several Ghanaian voters believe he is the man to redeem the nation from the current poverty and starvation caused by the NDC and NPP.

Addressing the gathering, the founder reiterated his desire to revive all the factories built by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and also promised, the great ideology of Dr. Nkrumah will be his main priority when voted into the highest office.

GUM leader assured his supporters of job creation to curb the rapidly increasing rate of unemployment, improved social amenities, security, agriculture, provide free electricity among others for all Ghanaians.

With barely ten months to the general elections, several voters who were once loyal to the NDC or NPP are now hesitant and openly showing their support for GUM. Interestingly, a cross-section of Ghanaian voters has lost trust in the two major political parties and are willing to give the mandate of the country to newly created political parties such as the Ghana Union Movement.

A significant number of Ghanaians who voted for the NPP in 2016 expressed their preparedness to vote for GUM since the NPP has failed in job creation, meeting the basic needs of the ordinary people.

Expressing his concerns on the fight against Illegal Small Scale Mining also known as Galamsey, under the current administration, the leader of Ghana Union Movement (GUM) pointed out that “President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the ruling NPP lied to Ghanaians about their administration’s fight against illegal small scale mining” which in his view had damaged our natural resources.

He opined that President Akuffo-Addo claiming to have minimised the activities of illegal small scale mining was completely false adding that it is political propaganda aimed to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians.

He categorically stated that the president has failed Ghanaians in the fight against the menace which continue to put an economic burden on the Ghana Water Company Limited.

He noted that checks from various mining communities indicated that the destruction of water bodies and forest range reserves through illegal mining activities by the miners has rather worsened under the current administration.

He asserted that the claims by the President to have set up a taskforce of joint military and police team to arrest “galamseyers” who flout the law was rather a waste of tax payer’s money since the task force came to worsen the situation. Adding that although the sitting government led by President Akufo-Addo in 2017 waged a war against galamayers by issuing a ban in its bid to protect the country’s water bodies which were being depleted due to the illegal mining, the activities have witnessed a spate and upsurge of illegal mining, known in Ghanaian parlance as “Galamsey.”

Elaborating further, he depicts President Akufo-Addo’s efforts of placing the ban on small scale mining activities were just a face serving exercise, ostensibly to give due advantage to some top chiefs of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to enrich themselves.

The leader of GUM promised to legalize ” galamsey” if elected as President in the 2020 general elections.

He explained that galamseyers or illegal small scale miners, in the country will return to mining sites if he is given the mandate of the country.

According to him, it is pointless for galamseyers to continue to wallow in extreme poverty when they can work to cater for themselves and their families.

Osofo Kyiri Abosom revealed he will put in place good measures that will offer galamsyers the opportunity to work again without destroying water bodies.

He reiterated that equipment will be supplied to the galamseyers by his government to reclaim the lands and reserve it for the future generation as well as profitable ventures. GUM leader called on the galamseyers who have been rendered unemployed due to the actions by the government to vote massively for him in December.

“Ghana belongs to all of us, so galamseyers will return to the field when I become President in 2021, after their operations, we will give them excavators to cover the pits that will be created after the mining, and then, we will plant trees on the used lands. We will only allow them to go to the lands and not where water bodies are,” Osofo Kyiriabosom said.

Fuming with rage, he blamed President Akufo-Addo of reducing the Community Mining Programme (CMP) which was launched by him in Wassa Akropong, Western Region on Wednesday, July 25, 2019 to formalise artisanal and small-scale gold mining activities in selected communities across the country to political mire where only those with NPP affinity are being considered.

He indicated that some former illegal small-scale gold miners (ex-galamseyers) who were trained by the government to benefit from the programme have been denied their mining operating licenses.

According to him, the licenses for the programme which were to be given to the former illegal small-scale gold miners were rather being issued to few ex-galamseyers who are identified as members and supporters of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) without recourse to the law governing mining activities.

He noted that some top officials of the NPP who are not supposed to benefit from the programme had rather secured mining operating permit license illegally to embark on the programme meant for ex-galamseyers who hitherto became redundant due to the ban on illegal small-scale mining activities. The leader of GUM believes that miners find it extremely difficult to secure the mining operating license to carry out the community mining programme although they have gone through the rightful processes and procedures of collecting the environmental permit license from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Source: wadataonline.com/Muhammed Faisal Mustapha