General News of Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2021-11-24Missing Excavators: My security aides have not been arrested - Hajia Fati debunks reports
Hajia Fati
Hajia Fati issues 24-hour ultimatum to media houses
There are attempts to dent my reputation – Hajia Fati
Hajia Fati discloses that her office has retrieved 150 stolen excavators
Senior member of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Hajia Fati, has denied reports that some security aides assigned to her office have been arrested for their
Read full articleinvolvement in an excavator deal.
According to a Daily Graphic report, Hajia Fati reacting to some media reports noted that some recent media reports have sought to link her security detail to a supposed arrest over excavators.
But speaking through a statement read on her behalf at a press briefing on Wednesday, November 24, 2021, a personal assistant to Hajia Fati, Stephen Okyere, noted that the publications were attempts by some top security officials in the Western Region and Western North Region to "destroy, dent, ruin the hard-earned reputation of Hajia Fati because of their selfish interest".
She has thus issued a 24-hour ultimatum to media houses who have published or republished the said story to retract or face legal action.
According to the party stalwart, her office has since 2018 been tasked by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation to retrieve the missing excavators which were seized during the era of the Galamstop Taskforce as well as the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining Operations.
She noted that her office since 2018 has retrieved over 150 stolen excavators which are now parked on a piece of land owned by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority located off the Adenta-Botwe road.
She reiterated that the excavators continue to remain under the charge of her office.
She thus rubbished allegations against the president of having overseen the stealing of excavators by emphasising that the president is not a thief.
"When they started saying Nana Addo (President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo) has stolen excavators, nobody was able to come out and defend the old man, so I took it to myself to defend him.
"He's not a thief and he doesn't steal, the excavators are there, so we went and looked for them. I have found some and some are still there. During our time no excavators were burnt," she is quoted by Graphic to have said.