Popular media personality Omanhene Kwabena Asante has slammed the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, over his recent emotional reaction on TV regarding illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, ongoing across the country.

The minister was captured in a viral video shedding tears over the aftermath of mining activities by Akonta Mining Limited.

The caption that accompanied the video, shared by GHOne’s X account on April 21, 2025, suggested that he broke down in tears after watching a documentary showing the destruction of lands and water bodies in the Western Region by Akonta Mining Company Limited.

In a rather emotional scene, a man is seen approaching him to briefly console him with a gentle pat on the shoulder.

But commenting on the issue on Asempa FM on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, and monitored by GhanaWeb, Omanhene Kwabena Asante said the minister's populist action of shedding tears was needless, as it cannot fix the galamsey menace.

"I have said that if we really want to reset Ghana, we can't do so with the crocodile tears shed by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources. He claims he is fighting galamsey, but in his backyard, galamsey is busily ongoing. His party chairman is involved in the same illegal mining. The party chairman was angry that the military taskforce tasked to fight galamsey did not inform him when they were coming to his area for an operation," Omanhene Kwabena Asante stated.

Meanwhile, a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Communications Team and former Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng, has criticised the minister’s public display, describing it as a sign of weak leadership.

“Nobody should pamper him for what he did. He has been appointed as a minister to solve problems, not to blackmail people through emotions. That is not what leadership is about.

“He is supposed to provide solutions to problems, not sit on TV and cry. If he feels tired, he should resign,” he stated.

The NPP communicator also stressed the need for the government to declare a state of emergency to tackle the galamsey menace.

“This is a gentleman who said that as soon as they came into power, they were going to declare a state of emergency.

“What happened to that? How many days have they been in power? Over 100 days. You don’t need two weeks to declare a state of emergency — it has more to do with executive power.

“To the extent that they hid the elections and branded Akufo-Addo as the chief miner, people even said the headquarters of galamsey is Kyebi,” he added.