A private legal practitioner and member of the National Democratic Congress, Edudzi Tamakloe, has called on President Nana Akufo-Addo to apologise to Ghanaians for his deception in the fight against illegal mining.

Mr Tamakloe’s comments follow a leaked video where the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng and the Central Regional Vice-Chairman of the NPP, Horace Ekow Ewusi were reportedly making some damning statements about alleged galamsey concessions belonging NPP General Secretary John Boadu and other members of the NPP.

The leaked video comes days after reports emerged that about 500 seized excavators by Operation Vanguard – an operational team made up of various security personnel purposely set up to clamp down on illegal mining – are missing.

Prof. Frimpong Boateng who is also the Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), disclosed that most of the excavators that were seized from illegal miners had vanished.

He subsequently issued a letter directing the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to arrest and interrogate Ekow Ewusi after learning that he reportedly sold some of the confiscated items from illegal miners.

Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana on Thursday, Mr. Tamakloe said the entire galamsey fight has been fought with a double face by the President.

According to him, Akufo-Addo all this while pretended to be fighting galamsey while NPP functionaries were allowed to keep concessions.

“Akufo-Addo must apologise to the people of Ghana for deceiving us that they were the people who were coming to restore our environment,” he told host Randy Abbey.

Mr Tamakloe added “Today John Boadu can own a concession but Ibrahim Mahama cannot…I am glad that the mask has come off Nana Akufo-Addo and to trust him is like to sign your death warrant.”