Lawyer for Akonta Mining Limited, Kwame Adom Appiah, has reacted to calls by some sympathizers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for President Akufo-Addo to fire Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor over his handling of Chairman Wontumi in public.
Chairman Wontumi, who is the owner of Akonta Mining has been subjected to false accusations by some media houses and coalitions led by Mr. Ken Ashigbey over illegal mining activities in the Tano Nimiri forest.
The group without any form of evidence has called for the arrest and prosecution of Chairman Wontumi.
But President Akufo-Addo exonerated Akonta Mining Company Limited from any wrongdoing, stressing that it isn’t involved in any illegal mining anywhere in Ghana.
“Let me respond briefly to the chairperson on the issue of illegal mining,” President Akufo-Addo remarked after concerns about the menace came to the fore at the 28th National and 16th Biennial Congress of the National Union of Ghana Catholic Diocesan Priests Association held in Koforidua.
“I want to assure him and all of you that Akonta Mining is not engaged in any illegal mining anywhere in Ghana as we speak.
“Further, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has through the agency of the Forestry Commission with the assistance of the military made the effort to cordon off all 294 sites of forest reserves in the country and rid them of illegal mining as we speak.”
President Akufo-Addo was responding to a concern expressed by the chairperson of the occasion, Ing. Ken Ashigbey, regarding Akonta Mining Company Limited’s supposed infraction of the laws to mine in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve in the Western North Region.
Shortly after the president’s statement, the minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor stated that matters to do with Akonta Mining and its activities, its criminalities or otherwise, were being handled by the mandated state institutions and the law would be applied strictly if the company was found culpable.
“The Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service is investigating it, and I am collaborating fully with them; the Office of the Special Prosecutor is also investigating it, and we are prepared to cooperate with him. So, by any stretch of imagination, the comment will not interfere with any investigations,” he stressed.
His comments appear to not have sat well with the legion of supporters who believe Chairman Wontumi is prosecuted on false assumptions.
A portion of the statement released by the group criticized the Minister indicating that “it is not expected of a whole sector minister to make unfounded pronouncements based on speculations and propaganda to give public censure of CHAIRMAN WONTUMI and AKONTA MINIING COMPANY that they had engaged in GALAMSEY and that Wontumi and Akonta mining company are GALAMSEY Kingpins.”
“As a sector minister, he should have been circumspect and pedantic in his pronouncement which has caused Akonta mining company losing billions of cedis. Per the inveterate pronouncements made by Abu Jinapor, the effective running and management of Akonta MINIING COMPANY has depleted from 100% growth to 2.3% a decline and depreciation of 97.7% – Akonta MINIING is as it stands now at the verge of collapse.”
But lawyer Kwame Adom Appiah urged for calm noting that the statements by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources were not out of place and doesn’t undermine the operations of Akonta Mining Limited.
He described Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor as the best performing minister Ghana has had to head the Lands and Natural Resources ministry.
Lawyer Kwame Adom Appiah explained that the appropriate state institution were working on investigating the case brought before them against Akonta Mining and would make their revelation public.