The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central in the Northern Region, Mr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, has condemned President Nana Akufo-Addo’s justification of the burning of excavators and other mining equipment by members of the government’s ‘Operation Halt’ team.
Mr. Murtala insists the remarks of President Akufo-Addo are “scandalous and reckless.”
President Akufo-Addo asked persons unhapped of the state’s approach to the threat of “galamseys” on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 to “go to the court to reinforce their situation,” in particular by burning excavators and other equipment.
The President said that he remains strongly opposed to illegal mining activities and the destruction of land, water and forest resources in the country and that he will ensure that all possible efforts are made to stop these activities.
“There are some who believe the ongoing practice of removal of harmful equipment and machinery, including our water bodies and forestry areas, is illegal and in some cases harsh.”
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“I strongly disagree and advise those who take the opposite view to take the position to court if they like. It’s all about the rule of law,” said Akufo-Addo.
However Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed said that burning pumps is illegal under the Minerals and Mining Act, Act 995, when he talked on Citi TV’s Breakfast Daily program on Thursday, May 27, 2021.
President Akufo-Addo said that the country’s first gentleman was the last person to try to flout the laws of the country.
“This country is a country that is ruled by laws and perhaps the President was presumably ignorant of the Act (Minerals and Mining Act), but I don’t think that he was. I just think he was just being reckless in his statement, and I say so because he is a lawyer of good standing, and he has been in practice for a long time. I believe that at the time, the Minerals and Mining Act of this country was passed, he was an MP, and he ought to have known that there are laws governing the conduct of those who engage in that business (galamsey), and it is scandalous more so when you have a country that is ruled by laws and the conduct of every single individual in this country is determined by rules and regulations including the conduct of the President.”
“It’s clearly reckless on his part for him, irrespective of the palpable laws that he has stated, which he knows and which he has said.”
President Akufo-Addo also was chastised by the Tamale central legislative authority for failing to penalize certain members of his government for alleged involvement in the threat.
He tells him that it is a complicity of his acts, President Akufo-Addo.
“To protect those who are involved in galamseys is to be where we are now because of the inept, the consciousness. No real desire exists to combat this threat because the President is a galamsey threat accomplice. People caught on the tape are still in the post taking money on behalf of Galamsey.”
Source: CITINEWSROOM
