General News of Monday, 12 September 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-09-12Akufo-Addo has failed, NPP executives own most galamsey concessions - Mahama alleges
John Mahama and Akufo-Addo
Former president John Dramani Mahama has accused President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of lacking the political will to fight illegal small-scale mining, referred to as ‘galamsey.’
Mahama alleges that most of the galamsey concessions in forest reserves were owned by New Patriotic Party executives, hence the difficulty Akufo-Addo is facing in the fight.
He also stated that elsewhere, the
Read full articlepresident will resign having failed to halt galamsey which continues to ravage farmlands and river bodies.
In an exclusive interview with Accra-based TV3, Mahama submitted: “Indeed, if it were some other jurisdictions, he would have resigned by now. By his word, he put his presidency on the line. Because now, his own people have been found to be the ones engaged (in galamsey).
“All their party executives have concessions and are doing illegal mining in forest reserves. It is a pity. But it is close to home, that is why he can’t deal with it.
If you go to the districts, they talk about community mining, community mining it is the NPP executives and the DCEs who are doing community mining and so they are the ones doing what they are doing. And so how can you expect him to fight galamsey when his own people are involved in it,” he added.
The only NPP national executive known to be involved in mining is National Women’s Organizer, Kate Gyamfua. Equipment belonging to her company were destroyed by a government taskforce months back even though they insisted that they had permit to operate a concession.
The fight against galamsey has returned to the national conversation with the recent arrest of Aisha Huang, a Chinese woman known as the ‘galamsey queen.’
Huang returned to Ghana despite having been deported in 2018 by the government. She is currently facing the old charges government dropped and new charges being prepared by the Attorney General.
President Akufo-Addo has assured the AG of his full support for the prosecution of Huang and other accomplices.
SARA
