Government doing 'concert' with Exton Cubic issue - Ofosu Ampofo

NDC Director of Elections, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo has cautioned the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, John Peter Amewu and the Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei-Mensah to stop displaying "concert" over the issue regarding Ibrahim Mahama and his company, Engineers & Planners.

Ibrahim Mahama, brother to former President John Dramani Mahama, together with his company was denied access to the Forest Reserve at Nyinahin to mine bauxite.

The company which was at the area with the equipment to commence operations at the Forest reserve was met with hostility from the residents who prevented the company from operating.

The company's access denial to the Forest Reserve was authorized by the Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei-Mensah who has asked them to provide documents permitting them to mine bauxite in the Nyinahin forest.

Though the Natural Resources Minister is said to have granted permission to Engineers & Planners, the Regional Minister insists he won't allow the company to carry on with any activity until he sees the documents.

He has therefore seized their equipment.

Responding to the Minister's action, Mr. Ofosu Ampofo warned the government to stop personalizing the issue.

According to him, he feels Mr. Ibrahim Mahama is targeted due to his relation to Ex-President Mahama.

He told sit-in-host Nana Yaw Kesse on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' that the Akufo-Addo government has reduced the issue to attacking the personality of Ibrahim Mahama.

“Ibrahim Mahama is a Ghanaian. He’s an entrepreneur. Everybody knows what he’s done. Can we help him to help other Ghanaians to create jobs?” he questioned.

Mr. Ofosu Ampofo stated emphatically that the denial of access to Engineers & Planners "sends a very wrong signal that the country is drifting away from the principle of good governance . . . Under Nana Akufo-Addo’s government, he has employed more of his family members than any other government in the history of this country."

“It does not lie with Ibrahim Mahama to carry his documents walking from Regional Minister to DCE. It’s not the company’s responsibility to pick up the documents in the armpit and be showcasing it everywhere,” he added.

To him, the government is playing "concert" with the issue because he doesn't see the need in asking the company to provide documents in this technological age where there are various avenues to obtain the documents without Mr. Mahama personally going to the Regional Minister's office to show his work permit.

“What they’re doing is needless? It’s concert that the two Ministers are displaying. And I’m surprised that, in this era and age of ICT, someone will stand somewhere and say that unless I see the documents myself . . . I am beginning to feel strongly that the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources is being relegated to the background gradually,” he stressed.