The President of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Eric Abavare, has criticised President John Dramani Mahama for what he describes as a betrayal of his promises to end illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey. In a Facebook post on Thursday, September 18, 2025, Prof. Abavare accused the President of abandoning his campaign pledge to root out galamsey and instead justifying the menace by prioritising economic gains from gold. “The conman didn’t know gold was the one commodity holding Ghana’s economy before the election, and promised to root out galamsey? He just blatantly ignored his so-called social contract and is now justifying the galamsey menace,” he wrote. Prof. Abavare further questioned the President’s commitment to safeguarding the future of the country, insisting that his recent remarks on galamsey reveal a lack of vision. “My question to him is, what would be the essence of the existence of an economy if Ghanaians don’t exist? What would posterity live on? This is the man who thinks Ghana will not exist after tomorrow and has no plans for the future of this country. If he had any plans for posterity, his utterances would be different,” he said. He concluded that President Mahama’s position on illegal mining shows he has no long-term plans for the survival of Ghana, describing the situation as “pitiful.”
