According to Prof Eric Abavare, former President John Dramani Mahama "does not qualify" to be restored to office because of a 2020 position he took on the arrest, arraignment and imprisonment of some galamsey operators.

Campaigning before the December 7, 2020, elections, flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Mahama lamented President Nana Akufo-Addo's government had imprisoned galamsey operators who were "children of Ghana" but asked "a galamsey queen [Aisha Huang] to return to her country, China" when she was arrested.

Thus, he promised, "when we come into power, we will grant amnesty to those who were arrested for galamsey to come back. I believe these operators are remorseful for any law they violated, so we will bring them out and give them another chance".

The youth at a durbar of chiefs and people at Odum-Banso, Western Region, cheered in approval.

Speaking to JOY News on Thursday, September 12, 2024, the President of the University Teachers Association of Ghana at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (UTAG-KNUST), Prof Eric Abavare, admonished Mr Mahama for the defence he mounted for galamsey operators, alias illegal small scale miners.

"He doesn’t even qualify to be the president of Ghana," Prof Abavare remarked.

"This issue of galamsey, we know the solution, we know those involved, we know what we can do to solve it. The issue is that we don’t want to do it," he lamented.

He, also, called the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) former leader President Nana Akufo-Addo a "big liar – I am sad because I have to say this on-air."

"Once upon a time, when issues of Prof Frimpong Boateng, the former minister of environment, was seizing people's excavators, the president made us believe he was doing the wrong thing..." Prof Abavare noted. 

"Nana Addo has all the powers to stop galamsey if he wants to. The point is that he doesn’t want to," he added. "He has all it takes to stop galamsey now... If they are not willing to solve the problem, they must not be in office." 

Prof Abavare said: "If the president really wants to solve it, he will say that from now on he does not want to see any earthmoving machine on our road anywhere. That statement alone will suffice.”