The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, a.k.a. Chairman Wontumi, has bemoaned the call by Catholic Bishops for officials of his company, Akonta Mining, to be prosecuted.

The Ghana Catholic Bishops, after their plenary assembly in Donkokrom in the Eastern Region, called on the government to go after financiers of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

“We urge the relevant agencies responsible for the protection and preservation of our natural resources to ensure the prosecution of the financiers of activities that result in major crises facing the country such as illegal mining (galamsey).

“One critical example is the call for prosecution of the owners of Akonta mining Limited, among others who have been accused by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, confirmed by the Minerals Commission and reported in the media,” parts of a communique by the Catholic Bishop Conference read.

Reacting to this in an interview on Neat FM, which was monitored by GhanaWeb, Wontumi said that the bishops should have called him to ask about the allegation because he (Wontumi) is a member of the Catholic Church.

He added that his outfit, Akonta Mining, is not involved in illegal small-scale mining but is rather a large-scale mining company.

“Where I don’t agree with them (the Bishops) is that I am a Catholic myself, so they could have called me to ask about the truth of the matter so that I can give them all the documents I have.

“They are men of God and so I don’t want to say anything against them … What I can say is that as it is written in Romans 8:31; If God is for you, who can be against you?

“My last quotation for them is from Isaiah 54 vs 10 (Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed),” he said in Twi.

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IB/BOG