Government’s spokesperson on economy, Manasseh Atta Boahen, has admonished self made investigators of illegal mining (galamsey) to produce factual reports and not personal sentiments.
Speaking on interview with Kwaku Dawuro, on Movement In The Morning, on Movement TV/Wontumi radio, Manasseh said the New Patriotic Party government is determined to curb the persistent increase of illegal mining known as galamsey. He reiterated that reports on the issue should be based on facts in order for the government to fight against it.
According to Manasseh ” Minister for information has redeemed himself of all the allegations levelled against him in Professor’s report, they are all untrue. He will not do anything to tarnish his image. Now going forward, the President has demonstrated his seriousness in the fight against galamsey, unlike the other people who claim to give freedom to galamseyers when they come into power, that is not what we are doing.
Awal mentioned that when you take a look at the galamsey fight we have embarked on, operation halt 2 that Social Responsibility Agreement(SRA) is fighting against, they can stomp at dawn and burn your excavators when they get hold of them. They do not seize for you to have the chance to talk to authorities for them to release it to you, so the government is committed to fighting against galamsey.”
He further stated that ”The more reason when pictures and videos of river Ankobra were released we could all attest to the fact that they were clean, so all these issues and other ones that have come are good conversations but for the Ghanaian discourse, we want nothing but the truth. We want reports based on facts and not personal sentiments or the fact that you hold a grudge against Someone, in order to enable us fight against it.”
