Minority members of the Committee on Lands and Forestry have called for an investigation into allegations by Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng that some members of the Akufo-Addo government are the masterminds behind illegal mining (galamsey) in the country.
The claims by the former Minister for Environment, Science and Innovation, they said, should not be swept under the carpet in view of the fact that he was in charge of the galamsey fight until he was ceremoniously dumped from the government.
Addressing the media in Parliament on Thursday, March 16, Ranking Member of the Committee, Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, accused President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of not being committed to his promise to protect the country from illegal mining.
According to him, in addition to borrowing irresponsibly to wreck the sanity of the economy, the Akufo-Addo administration is also impudently destroying the lands with government officials brazenly taking an active part in galamsey.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng recently disclosed he was hounded out of the government by masterminds of the galamsey operations because of his uncompromising fight against the act.
The former Minister indicated allegations that he carted some 500 excavators away to unknown destinations were palpable lies and claimed there was an orchestrated scheme in the NPP and even within the government to get him out.
He said, “Why is it that everybody is in the forest when I left? At that time you dare not enter the forest but as I said, I don’t want to go into details now because I have a lot to say about that.”
Hon. Pelpuo challenged the government and its appointees to desist from joining the huge number of illegal migrants and the many unpatriotic Ghanaians engaged in illegal mining.
“We know of huge destructive activities happening around; we know of our rivers being destroyed; we know of lands that are still dark with chemicals that cannot be consumed and are very inimical to our lives. “
“We know that in all this government itself is deeply involved in the galamsey activity and in the destruction of our land without thinking about reclaiming the land.”
“We are very sad that at this stage of our lives, the government will take the lead amongst other illegalities that are going on.”
The Minority, he said, will continue to speak the minds of the ordinary Ghanaian whose livelihood has been destroyed by the government in addition to the huge borrowing and difficulty being imposed on him that he will never be able to solve in the future.
He called on the government to come clean because Ghanaians are all aware of government’s pretense of protecting the lands and yet supervising all the destructions behind the scenes.
