Chief apologizes to Wontumi, Sir John over ‘galamsey claims’

The Ashanti Regional chairman of ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Bernard Antwi Boasiako, accused of engaging in illegal mining activities has revealed that the Paramount Chief of Bekwai Traditional Council, Nana Osei Kwadwo Ababio has rendered an unqualified apology to him after the accusation.

“The Omanhene of Bekwai called me on phone and apologized to me on behalf of a chief who claimed I was doing galamsey”, Mr. Bernard Antwi Boasiako revealed in a radio interview monitored by MyNewsGh.com on Kumasi-based Nhyira FM.

“I am not disclosing everything he said but he has apologized to me and I accept the apology because he is a chief I respect much”, the chief Executive Officer of Hanson mining told host of Nhyira FM Morning show, Kofi Asante.

Mr. Bernard Antwi Boasiako also took a swipe at the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in parliament for accusing him of doing illegal mining without backing their allegations with any substantive evidence.

Traditional leaders in the Amansie Central district of the Ashanti region have urged President Akufo-Addo to deal with his own people if he is really determined to stop illegal mining activities in the country, accusing the CEO of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie aka Sir John, of giving the Aprapram forest reserve to Chinese nationals to mine under the pretext of doing reclamation.

The chiefs also cited the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Bernard Antwi Bosiako aka Chairman Wontumi, who they say is supervising illegal mining activities at the forest reserve.

The two men have since denied the allegations, describing them as false and without merit This came to fore during a meeting between the Minister of Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs and the Chiefs of Amansie.

They indicated that illegal mining is so rife in the area that the Kobro forest reserve has been tagged as the ‘Nana AKufo-Addo galamsey site’. Anybody who attempts going to the forest they claim, is turned away, even to the extent that Member of Parliament for the people of Jacobu, Hon Emmanuel Akwasi Gyamfi was turned away when he tried entering the Kobro Forest to appreciate the spate of ongoing reclamation in there.