The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has waded into the controversy that has characterised the recent leaked report written by the former Minister of Science, Environment, Technology and Innovation, Prof Frimpong-Boateng, with a call on the Special Prosecutor to act.
The controversial report, which implicated some top government officials for being complicit in the fight against illegal mining, and has since found its way into the media domain, has received reactions from some of the people mentioned in the report.
According to the NDC, the report by the German-trained Cardiothoracic Surgeon “shows clearly that, the so-called fight against galamsey was a charade calculated to enable top government and NPP functionaries to appropriate and takeover the illicit galamsey trade”.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, the party’s National Communication Officer, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, highlighted some of the several damning revelations contained in Frimpong-Boateng’s report.
In the view of the NDC, “the only way to establish the truth and get to the bottom of the issues contained in the Frimpong-Boateng report is for Parliament to institute a publicly-televised and bi-partisan enquiry into this report”.
The Special Prosecutor, the party said, must act with alacrity by probing the famous Prof Frimpong-Boateng’s leaked report and prosecute all government officials, NPP functionaries and persons who have perpetrated serious crimes against the State, as contained in the report.
According to Lawyer Gyamfi, the people of Ghana deserve this probe because millions of tax payers’ money has gone down the drain in the name of fighting illegal mining, which was famously trumpeted by the NPP government.
“Now that it has been confirmed that all the so-called fight was a charade, our nation stands united in crying for justice. Anything short of a bi-partisan enquiry into this matter will be fiercely resisted”, the party warned.
The NDC refreshed the minds of Ghanaians on a moratorium placed on April 1, 2017 by president Akufo-Addo, which suspended artisanal and small-scale mining in the country for a combined period of one year, three months.
However, Prof Frimpong-Boateng’s leaked galamsey report indicated that in 2018, the same Akufo-Addo government, acting through the Forestry Commission and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, somehow contrived to give out all forest reserves in Ghana for mining activities.
Lawyer Gyamfi indicated that more illegal miners, including Chinese gangs, invaded our forest reserves with the help of government officials and caused unprecedented destruction to our forests, water bodies and environment, during the period that the ban on small scale mining was in force.
Mr Sammy Gyamfi elaborated on the concerns and facts as contained in the leaked report and further mentioned the names of some top government functionaries whose names were captured in the leaked report
The National Democratic Congress further hinted that it would formally submit requests to both the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana and the office of the Special Prosecutor to initiate a public enquiry and the needed investigations into the leaked galamsey report.
According to Lawyer Sammy Gyamfi, “we have always maintained, President Akufo-Addo’s proclaimed fight against galamsey was the biggest scam ever to be perpetrated on Ghanaians.”
Furthermore, the NDC felt vindicated by the damning content of “the report authored and presented by the former Minister of Environment and Science and former Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee against Illegal Mining, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng.”
The party suggested that their long-held position that there has never been any genuine commitment or any attempt to fight galamsey by the government has been validated and insisted “the so-called fight against galamsey was a charade calculated to enable top government and NPP functionaries to appropriate and takeover the illicit galamsey trade.”
