Galamsey report: Minority Leader calls for national probe

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, says a damning and revealing report on illegal mining authored by former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, calls for a national probe.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, who is a former Chairman of the now defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, in his report, accused some bigwigs of the Akufo-Addo government, of interfering in his fight against illegal small-scale mining, locally known as galamsey or being engaged in galamsey.

However, the presidency, in reacting, said claims in the report are a catalogue of grievances of Prof. Frimpong-Boateng and could best be described as hearsay.

The presidency also stated that the document was not an official report before Cabinet as it was submitted in an informal way.

This has led to a series of press statements and interviews by persons accused in the report of wrongdoing.

Commenting on the issue, the Minority Leader said Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s report to the President on the failed work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, which was set up by President Akufo-Addo to fight the illegal mining menace, confirms that the whole “fight” was a fraudulent one.

According to him, it was shrouded in a well-calculated ruse to enable key government officials and functionaries at the presidency to dabble in the very illicit business of ‘galamsey.’

“Despite the President placing a moratorium on April 1, 2017, suspending all artisanal and small-scale mining in the country for a total period of one year and three months, we are told that in 2018, the government, acting through the Forestry Commission and Ministry of Lands, somehow contrived to give out all forest reserves in Ghana for mining activities.

“To confirm the grand collusion, despite a Cabinet directive in 2019 to suspend the issuance of new licenses and permits, more illegal miners, including Chinese gangs, entered Ghana’s forest reserves with the help of government officials, and the destruction of Ghana’s forests and environment continued unabated, the Dr. Ato Forson who’s MP for Ajumako Enyan Essiam said in a Facebook post.

He added: “These revealing issues and several others in the damning report call for a national probe.”