Former Parliamentary Candidate Donald Dzameshie Urges Tougher Action on Galamsey After Helicopter Crash

By Joylinda Laryea/ August 8, 2025

Former 2024 Parliamentary Candidate for Akatsi South, Donald Dzameshie, has issued a passionate call to President John Dramani Mahama to take decisive and uncompromising action against illegal mining (galamsey) in the wake of the tragic military helicopter crash that claimed the lives of eight prominent Ghanaians on August 6.

In a strongly worded statement, Mr. Dzameshie described the incident as a “casualty of war” not a routine accident linking the deaths directly to the fight against illegal mining.

The victims, including Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, Alhaji Muniru Mohammed, Dr. Samuel Sarpong, Mr. Samuel Aboagye, Squadron Leader Peter Anala, Flying Officer Manaen Twum Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah, were en route to Obuasi to launch a national program aimed at ending galamsey and promoting sustainable livelihoods.

“Eight of our finest sons have fallen , not in foreign battlefields, but here at home, on a mission to protect our land and our future,” Mr. Dzameshie wrote. “This is a casualty of war, a silent war against corruption, greed, and the galamsey menace.”

He warned that illegal mining has infiltrated key national institutions, stating: “Galamsey has corrupted the chieftaincy, compromised the judiciary, divided our communities, poisoned our rivers, destroyed our farmlands, and now, it has taken the lives of eight patriots who dared to stand for something better.”

Calling for immediate and bold action, Mr. Dzameshie outlined his recommendations, including the arrest of financiers, destruction of illegal mining equipment, lockdown of forest reserves, reclamation of degraded lands, and granting the military “full, uncompromising authority” to stamp out the menace.

He concluded with a challenge to the President: “Your Excellency, the nation mourns  but it must also rise. History will remember whether we allowed these deaths to be in vain or whether we finally said #Enough.”

Investigations into the cause of the helicopter crash are ongoing.