Minority Leader
in Parliament, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson believes the report released by the
former Chairman of the defunct Inter-ministerial Committee against Illegal
Mining, Prof. Frimpong Boateng on the illicit activity makes mockery of
government’s fight against illegal mining otherwise known as galamsey.
In a Facebook
post, Dr. Forson said the revelation by Prof. Frimpong is strongly indicative
that the galamsey fight was nothing but a charade. He plainly describes it as
fraudulent.
“Prof.
Frimpong-Boateng’s report to the President on failed work of the
Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, which was set up by President
Akufo-Addo to fight the illegal mining menace, confirms that the whole fight
was a fraudulent one”, he wrote.
The report
authored by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng also a former Minister of Environment in
March 2021 and handed over to the Chief of Staff cited a number of top
officials in the Akufo-Addo government accused of either being engaged in
galamsey or interfered in the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on
Illegal Mining.
The Presidency
in a rejoinder argued that despite the serious allegations Prof.
Frimpong-Boateng made against some government appointees, not a single piece of
evidence was adduced or presented to enable the claims to be properly
investigated.
It insists that
the report was based on hearsay. But Dr. Ato Forson says, government’s action
so far is a tacit endorsement of its corrupt appointees.
“It was shrouded
in a well-calculated ruse to enable key government officials and functionaries
at the Presidency to dabble in the very illicit business of galamsey.”
Meanwhile, the
Minority leader is pushing for a full-scale investigation into the revelations.
“The revealing
issues and several others in the damning report call for a national probe”, he
added
SOURCE: CITINEWSROOM
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