I contributed to NPP’s loss of parliamentary seats in 2020 – Charles Bissue admits

A former presidential staffer, Charles Bissue, has admitted that his work as a secretary to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) contributed to the New Patriotic Party’s heavy loss in the 2020 parliamentary elections.

The former secretary explained that he was not the direct cause of the party’s downfall, however, the expose dubbed ‘Galamsey Fraud’ by Anas Aremeyaw Anas seemed to have tainted his image and work which angered some party faithfuls who felt ‘cheated’.

He stated that contrary to what was portrayed in the Anas documentary, he did his work so diligently that it angered some party people who set him up.

“Some people hate me within the political party because I am strict in the things I do… One of the reasons they hate me [while working as secretary to IMCIM], which I don’t regret, is that I don’t understand why galamsey has been banned for two years, the down-trodden people are suffering and a big man who knows me would come to me seeking a concession. Are you okay?”

Responding to a question about people perceiving operation galamstop as a failure and attributing it to the NPP’s loss of parliamentary seats in mining areas, Charles Bissue, said that “it is true, I was part of it. When we started the work, we kept in place some strategies and we vetted the concessions. The whole idea was to sanitize the mining system and afterwards restructure it and that’s what the lands ministry works with today.”

“The committee was an adhoc committee and when we complete our work then it moves to the ministry. While we were doing our work, Anas Aremeyaw Anas did his expose which tainted the integrity of the Inter-Ministerial Committee and so that angered party faithfuls who might probably be involved in mining and have been banned for two years with the hope that things would be straightened out only to hear that top executives are receiving bribes. I believe them, they would be angry at Charles Bissue…”

He however declared that “but for me, the job that the president gave me I did not receive bribe I was doing it strictly so that everybody benefits.”

He rather accused the alleged nephew of Sir John of forcing him to engage in galamsey.

“But one gentleman mentioned in Sir John’s will, Francis Owusu Akyaw If Sir John’s will is true, then they should investigate the properties that were acquired in 2019. I was hit in 2019 February. Francis Owusu used to work in my office… He was pushing me to go with him to work in the forest in the name of his uncle [Sir John]. Eventually I told Prof Frimpong Boateng that this guy wants to do galamsey but I don’t condone that. He is the one who did that video to taint the integrity of the IMCIM.”

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