John Peter Amewu, the former Lands and Natural Resources Minister has indicated that he never seized excavators from some suspected galamsey operators when he was the sector minister.

A number of the excavators that were at illegal mining sites were seized by the Inter-Ministerial Committee Task Force on Illegal Mining during the peak of the war against illegal mining in Ghana.

Amewu told the Appointments Committee on Wednesday, 24 February 2021 that, “While I was the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, I never seized any excavator. What I did when I was the Minister for that sector was to ask for the withdrawal of excavators from mining sites. About 500 were withdrawn from the sites, but they were not seized,” Peter Amewu told Parliament’s Appointment Committee.

The issue of the seized excavators became very topical during Amewu’s tenure at the ministry.

It later emerged that some excavators had disappeared from the district assemblies where they were being kept.

There were calls for sanctions against persons behind the disappearance of the excavators.

Some persons were subsequently arrested over the disappearance of the missing equipment and charged with the offence of stealing and abetment to stealing.