The Ranking Member of the Lands and Forestry Committee of Parliament, Dr. Abdul-Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, has called out what he describes as the non-commitment of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government towards the fight against illegal mining.
According to him, it comes to the Members of Parliament on the Minority side of the House as a surprise that Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, who put in everything to produce a report on the illegal activity, is being targeted.
He explained that what the government should have been doing with the former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, is to treat him as an informant, and not as a culprit.
“A few days ago, we heard news about the arrest of Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, Nana Addo’s former Minister for Environment, Science and Technology. We find the arrest awkward and unimpressive because rather than working with the prof to get to the roots of the problem, he was seen as a culprit and not an informant.
“It creates the impression that this arrest is meant to becloud the accusation of government’s involvement, either directly or indirectly,” he stated.
Dr. Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo was speaking during a press conference in parliament when he made the comments.
He added that the government is showing very little commitment to the fight against the menace of galamsey, adding that if it was, it would have responded to the NDC’s request for an investigation into the IMCIM report.
He stressed that what the Nana Akufo-Addo government needs to do to show its resolve to this fight, is to go beyond the arrest of Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng.
“In April this year, in response to revelations from the report on the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, and the involvement of key NPP operatives in the galamsey industry, we did a press conference to request an investigation into the report.
“To date, we do not know how far the government has gone with this exercise, except for the brazen arrest of the man who threw all he has to reveal the hidden truth in the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining. We believe that if government wants to demonstrate seriousness on the fight against galamsey, it must go beyond the arrest of Prof Frimpong-Boateng. It should go wider by ensuring the arrest of government and Jubilee appointees at the heart of government,” he stated.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has since taken over the investigations into the report of the IMCIM, led by Prof Frimpong-Boateng.
Source: ghanaweb.com
