Lawyers of outgoing General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Asiedu Nketiah say their client has no support for illegal mining popularly referred to as ‘Galamsey’.
With particular reference to an October 18, 2022 publication of the Daily Guide Newspaper attributed to Asiedu Nketiah, the lawyers said their client did not show support for illegal mining but rather condemned same and its devastating impact on the environment.
In a rejoinder to the publishers seeking a retraction and apology, the lawyers stated that the NDC scribe rather indicated the preparedness of the NDC to institute sustainable mining practices when elected in the 2024 General Elections.
The lawyers indicated that given the fact that “Galamsey” is illegal under our laws, “your headline “NDC Won’t Stop Galamsey” attributed to our client is not only false but maliciously published to portray our Client and the NDC as promoters and champions of illegality.”
The statement added “It is obvious that said false and malicious attribution and publication of same was done to damage the reputation of our client given the fact that your full story on page 6 of the said newspaper did not have any excerpt to directly or indirectly support your headline.”
The letter said “In the circumstances, we hold the firm and unequivocal instructions of our client to demand, which we hereby do, that you do cause a retraction and apology within 72hrs from the time and date of receipt of this letter.”
It continued “We are further instructed to notify you that the said retraction and apology should be given the same frontpage publicity and prominence as the false and malicious headline publication contained in your newspaper of Tuesday 18 th October 2022.”
It stated “that should you fail, refuse, and/or neglect to comply with our client’s demands as stated above, we have his firm instruction to take all necessary steps including commencing an action in court to protect our client’s image and reputation from the false and malicious publication.”