General News of Monday, 3 May 2021

Source: mynewsgh.com

Galamsey fight: Oppong-Nkrumah should be ashamed himself – Lawyer Evans Amankwa

Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, Minister of Information Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, Minister of Information

Private legal practitioner, Evans Amankwa has attacked Information Minister, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah’s role in the fight against illegal mining activities popularly known as galamsey in the country.

“Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah should be ashamed of himself as a lawyer. Which law book that says excavators and equipment belonging to people engaging in illegal mining be burnt?”, Lawyer Evans Amankwa quizzed on Kumasi-based Akoma FM monitored by MyNewsGh.com.

According to the Minister, as part of plans to flush out galamsey completely in Ghana, the President has directed that seized mining excavators and other equipment of the mining be burnt to serve as a deterrent to other recalcitrant people.

Speaking to the galamsey menace, during a panel discussion, Lawyer Evans Amankwa attacked President Nana Akufo-Addo’s directive describing the move as unnecessary.

“…The exercise is unnecessary completely and nothing good will come out of it. I can confidently tell you that, the directive is to attack certain individuals who are not members of NPP”, the NDC apologist in the Ashanti Region alleged.

The government put together a two-day National Consultative Dialogue on Small-Scale Mining involving about 14 stakeholders, including former ministers of Lands and Natural Resources, members of the Council of State, members of the National House of Chiefs, heads of security agencies, actors in the mining industry and members of the Small-Scale Miners Association to develop a roadmap for tackling the problem of illegal small-scale mining in the country.

At the end of the dialogue, the stakeholders, among other things, charged the government to take steps to strictly apply the country’s mining laws.