The idea Akufo-Addo didn't know about galamsey report is a joke - NPP member

Dr Arthur Kennedy, a leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), has criticised President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for failing to act on Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng's report on illegal small-scale mining in Ghana.

Speaking in a JoyNews interview on Monday, monitored by GhanaWeb, Dr. Kennedy said that people who say the president did not act on the report because he did not know about it, even though it was given to his chief of staff, are unserious.

He added that once a report has been sent to the president's chief of staff, Akufo-Addo will certainly know about it.

"Those saying that are not serious. To begin with, all around the world, everybody knows that when you hand a report to the chief of staff, it is as good as handing it to the president, unless the president wants to say he does not have confidence in the chief of staff.

"The report itself contains clear, unambitious instances of him (Frimpong-Boateng) bringing up to the president the problems that the inter-ministerial taskforce was having. For example, with regard to the senior minister, with regards to Sir John, with regards to a lot of others and the president promising to address those, (but) he didn't.

"The idea that this report has been on the blind side of the president is really a joke and an insult both to the president's intelligence and integrity as well as to Ghanaians," he said.

He also refuted assertions that Prof. Frimpong-Boateng's report was full of speculation.

He said that the report presented "verifiable facts", and it cast doubts on Akufo-Addo's commitment to fighting galamsey.

Background

A former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Prof Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, named members of parliament and top government officials who are allegedly involved in illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) in Ghana.

Portions of a report on illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) in Ghana by Prof Frimpong Boateng, indicated that these MPs and government officials were either directly involved in galamsey or were using their power to protect relatives who were involved in the menace.

The 36-page report, which Prof Frimpong addressed to the Chief of Staff and the Ghana Police Service, according to myjoyonline.com, implicated the former MP for Manso Nkwanta, Joseph Albert Quarm; director of operations at the presidency, Laud Commey; executive assistant and head of social media at the presidency, Charles Nii Teiko; and Frank Asiedu Bekoe, director of political affairs at the Office of the Chief of Staff.

"He (the former NPP MP) used his position as a member of the Minerals Commission to acquire several dozens of large-scale concessions in his district, ostensibly for community mining purposes. He ended up selling these concessions to private individuals, including party members for GH¢2000 per concession.

"Throughout our struggle with illegalities in the small-scale mining sector, what baffled me was the total disregard of the president's commitment to protecting the environment. I can state without any equivocation that many party officials from the national to the unit committee level had their friends, PAs, agents, relatives, financiers, or relatives engaged in illegal mining. Most of them engaged Chinese working for them.

"There are appointees in the Jubilee House that are doing or supporting illegal mining or interfering with the fight against the menace. Examples are Laud Commey, Charles Nii Teiko, and Frank Asiedu Bekoe (Protozoa)," parts of the report read.

The report also indicated that members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) had also acquired several mining concessions, especially in the Western Region.

"In the Wassa East District, a former NDC Deputy Minister who is also MP for the Wassa East constituency has been actively mining in the Subri forest for years," the report also stated.

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