President, Imani Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, says President Akufo-Addo deploying miliary personnel to fight illegal mining (galamsey) will not succeed in ending the menace.
According to him, the only solution worth implementing if the president desires to fight the menace is the implementation of recommendations offered by former Minister for Science and Technology, Professor Frimpong-Boateng.
A report by former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, accused several officials from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the Jubilee House of being involved in illegal small-scale mining, commonly known as galamsey.
The 37-page report, prepared in 2021 and handed over to the Chief of Staff has leaked into the public domain.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng who signed the report claims that some NPP officials hired Chinese nationals to engage in galamsey on their behalf.
He said that despite the President’s commitment to protecting the environment, many party officials were involved in illegal mining, outlining measures to end galamsey.
Addressing the galamsey menace on Citi FM’s ‘The Big Issue’, Franklin Cudjoe said, “Any serous person wanting to deal with this matter immediately will not send these advance militia people… what they are doing there? I mean haven’t we seen that before. If this president was minded to deal with this matter when his former minister for Science and Technology…that report (should be implemented) was not even issued officially. It was only after it was leaked that we started discussing it and the gentleman lost his position,”
“Deploying the military to galamsey sites is not a real solution. If the President is serious about ending illegal mining, he should act on Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s recommendations. – Franklin Cudjoe, President, Imani Africa. #TheBigIssue #GhanaPolls2024 #CitiVerify… pic.twitter.com/iXkeXu7s7R
— CITI FM 97.3 (@Citi973) October 12, 2024
