General Secretary of Ghana Federation of Labour, Abraham Koomson
General Secretary of Ghana Federation of Labour, Abraham Koomson, has questioned whether or not government appointees involved in mining honour their tax obligations just as other businesses do.
He was speaking in the wake of the recent increment in taxes and how the new prices would take a toll on businesses.
He cited investments in the mining industry as an example; seeking to find out whether prominent people engaged in mining pay their taxes.
Speaking on Citi TV's Point of View programme and monitored by GhanaWeb Business, he called on government to rope in persons who fall within the category and seal all the leakages in the tax system.
Mr Koomson also called on government to cut down on its expenditure and the size of government to save the country some money amidst the economic crisis.
"Reduce the size of your government, cut down your expenditure. Look at the number of staffers, over 1000 always on social media insulting and defending things..." he said.
"Government appointees are also in mining. Are they paying taxes? How are they exporting these minerals out there so the government should really focus on dealing with these kinds of leakages, corruption and favouritism," the General Secretary of Ghana Federation of Labour has said.
Mr Koomson further said it is about time trade unions come together to deal with the government for damaging the local economy.
It would be recalled that about a week ago, a report authored by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, the former Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) in 2021, was released containing the names of NPP officials who are allegedly hindering the fight against illegal mining.
Some of the known names mentioned in the report include the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, Gabby Otchere-Darko, Laud Commey, Joseph Quam, among others. While they have denied any wrongdoing, some alleged that Frimpong-Boateng was equally at fault.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng in his 36-page report wrote that Gabby pestered him when the IMCIM was about dislodging the Imperial Heritage.
His report revealed how Gabby Otchere-Darko, a cousin of the president and an influential member of the ruling NPP, called him on the phone to question his decision to order the dislodgment of equipment of a Mining Company Imperial Heritage which Prof. Frimpong Boateng argues was mining illegally with a prospecting license in forest reserves.
“We were ready to dislodge Imperial Heritage from Kobro Forest when Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko called to inform me that he was the lawyer for Heritage Imperial Limited, a company that was destroying the Kobro and Apaprama Forest Reserves and in the process had also polluted and diverted the course of the River Offin, as can be seen in the satellite images below. I informed the President about the behaviour of Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and he promised to deal with it.”
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko in turn averred that the former minister had twisted the job of a lawyer to mean interference.
He has also sued Prof Frimpong-Boateng for defamation and has demanded GHȼ10million in damages.
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