Politicians more interested in votes than galmsey– Michael Dedey
Engineer and policy analyst Michael Kosi Dedey has criticised Ghanaian politicians for what he describes as a lack of genuine commitment to tackling pressing national issues such as illegal mining (galamsey), accusing them of prioritising elections over the public good.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, Dedey questioned the disparity in political attention and resource allocation between elections and major national challenges.
“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 said.
Using the just-ended Akwatia by-election as an example, Mr. Dedey highlighted what he called an “imbalance” in national priorities.
“Akwatia is one constituency out of the 276 in this country. For one election, you hear 5,000 policemen were deployed, all manner of things were done, 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 noted.
Mr. Dedey also accused politicians of placing personal and party ambitions above national interest.
“It looks like the politicians are more interested in their own interests than the national interest,” he stressed.
His remarks follow the deployment of more than 5,000 police officers, alongside ministers and military personnel, during the Akwatia by-election on Tuesday, September 2, 2025.
The election was held following the death of MP Ernest Kumi and was won by Lawyer Bernard Bediako Baidoo of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who secured 18,199 votes out of 33,819 valid ballots cast.
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