info@businessghana.com
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on Parliament to, as a matter of urgency, investigate all individuals, including government appointees cited in Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng’s report on the activities of illegal mining in the country.
The party, led by its National Communication Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, said the probe was necessary to unearth the truth contained in the report to help sanitise the mining sector and protect the country’s natural resources.
“Ghanaians deserve this probe because millions of taxpayers' money have gone down the drain in the name of fighting illegal mining,” he said.
The report, borne out of the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) occasioned by the President, was to help uncover faces behind the activities of illegal mining and those who sponsored it.
The party also called on Parliament to probe the money laundering allegations contained in the Aljazeera investigative report.
It has also called on the Special Prosecutor (SP) to investigate and prosecute all persons found culpable in the two reports.
Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday Mr Gyamfi, said: “Now that it has been confirmed that all the so-called fight was a charade, our nation stands united in crying for justice.
“Anything short of a bi-partisan enquiry into this matter will be fiercely resisted,” Mr Gyamfi said.
The two reports, according to the communications officer, vindicated the NDC, saying it confirmed the party’s long-held position that there had never been any genuine commitment or any attempt to fight galamsey by the current government.
The report confirms one truth — that illegal mining activities have been a free-for-all enterprise for many in the Akufo-Addo and Bawumia administration.
“From ministers, presidential staffers and other associates in government, to national, regional, constituency and even unit committee executives of the New Patriotic Party, their agents, personal assistants, relatives and financiers, many have been cited to have either engaged in or promoted illegal mining with reckless abandon by the Presidency,” he claimed.
He noted that the only way to establish the truth and get to the bottom of issues contained in the Frimpong Boateng report was for the issues to be probed.
As a further step to back the party’s demands, Mr Gyamfi said the NDC would formally submit a request to both Parliament and the Office of the Special Prosecutor to initiate the necessary investigation into the golf mafia documentary and the Prof. Boateng report.
“Any country that has no firm grip over the protection of its forests, nature reserves, wetlands and biodiversity is one that is doomed to extinction.
“It is sad to say that Ghana is fast approaching this scary reality under the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP administration, who are busy destroying all our vegetative buffers to satisfy their greed and selfishness.
“It is our fervent hope and firm belief that these very serious issues will not be swept under the carpet and that the Special Prosecutor and Parliament will rise to the occasion in order to stop the continuous desecration of our Presidency and environment,” he added.
