The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said that the currently trending scandal over the missing excavators seized from illegal miners has unmasked President Akufo-Addo as the ringleader of the “Galamsey” gang sabotaging the fight against illegal mining.
At a press conference today, National Communications Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi said the scandalous revelations about the deep complicity of high ranking government officials in the smuggling of excavators seized from illegal miners only indicate that the President had all along conducted an agenda to only seize illegal mines and equipment and hand them over to members of his party.
“This week, we have been told of the arrest of a known kingpin embedded in the anti-galamsey machinery of the state, whose nefarious activities have long spelt doom for the fight against galamsey. We are talking here about the Vice Chairman of the NPP in the Central Region, Mr. Horace Ekow Ewusi, and five other accomplices who have taken advantage of the state’s fight against galamsey, to allegedly expropriate seized equipment including the 500 excavators, ounces of gold, thousands of weapons and other possessions of illegal miners.
“Friends from the media, further evidence has now emerged that Mr. Horace Ekow Ewusi, whom we have long called out as a known galamsey kingpin, did not operate in a vacuum. In a video recording released on social media this week, the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, who doubles as the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee against Illegal Mining, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, is heard facilitating and promoting the galamsey business of top NPP officials such as the General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, Bernard Antwi Bosiako (aka “Chairman Wontumi”) ostensibly to generate money for the New Patriotic Party.
“…this galamsey scandal is the result of a grand scheme setup by President Akufo-Addo himself to enrich NPP officials to finance the New Patriotic Party. This is the reason he populated the Anti-Galamsey committees with top NPP officials like Ekow Ewusi, Charles Bissue among others. … The Akufo Addo the government have teamed up with officials of the NPP to callously takeover the illicit galamsey trade, despite its deleterious effects on our environment and human lives,” Sammy Gyamfi said.
Today’s press conference follows yesterday’s leakage of a secret tape in which the Environment Minister, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, had been heard saying that illegal mines belonging to NPP bigwigs had not been touched by government taskforce in a bid to leave them to operate so they can raise money for the party.
According to Mr. Gyamfi, the President’s declared fight against galamsey was a facade to seize illegal mining concessions from ordinary Ghanaians and gift them to members of the ruling party.
Pointing out that Government’s declared fight against galamsey was all long a charade, Sammy Gyamfi asked whether all the money that was put into the fight against galamsey will be refunded and accounted for.