Convener for the Media Coalition against illegal mining, Dr Kenneth Ashigbey has told the Police to ensure that the instigations into the comments by the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) 2024 Parliamentary Candidate for Amenfi East Constituency, Ernest Frimpong regarding illegal small scale mining, leads to its logical conclusion.
It would be recalled that Mr Frimpong was seen and heard in a video that has gone viral on social media telling illegal miners to attack any military or security officer who attempts to stop them from engaging in ‘galamsey.’
He urged them to initiate reprisal attacks on the military, promising them that himself, the MCE and the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, who was present at the meeting, will always protect them.
Amenfi East NPP PC arrested – Municipal Chief Executive reveals
The Parliamentary Candidate however said his statements did not mean to endorse illegal mining or encourage miners to fight military personnel.
According to him, his remarks were taken out of context from a two-hour engagement with artisanal small-scale miners and emphasised that his intentions were misrepresented.
He was arrested and subsequently granted bail.
But speaking to a journalist on Tuesday, June 19, Dr Ashibegy said he expects the Police “to inevstage this matter to its logical conclusion.”
He further decried the lack of political commitment to fight galamsey. He said that 100 hectares of land are being destroyed by illegal miners in the Jomoro district of the Western Region.
Dr Ashigbey said that apart from other factors that have led to the decline in Ghana’s cocoa production, which has dropped by almost 40 percent between 2023 and
2024, illegal mining is causing an irreversible damage to most farms in cocoa growing
communities.
“It is a shame that our cocoa farms are encroached upon for galamsey activities. Where did we go wrong in the fight against illegal mining. The ordinary Ghanaian is suffering,“ he lamented.
The post Galamsey: Investigate Amenfi East NPP PC’s comment thoroughly – Ken Ashigbey first appeared on 3News.
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