Akonta Mining Not Engaged In Any Illegal Mining As We Speak – Akufo-Addo Defends Wontumi

According to President Akufo-Addo, Akonta Mining Company Limited is not currently engaged in any unlawful mining activities in Ghana.

The President made this statement on Wednesday at the National Union of Ghana Catholic Diocesan Priests Association’s 28th National and 16th Biennial Congress in Koforidua.

For alleged illegalities the company allegedly committed in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve in the Western North Region last year, numerous groups and individuals have called for punitive measures against the company and its owners, led by the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, also known as Chairman Wontumi.

When asked by the event’s chair, Ing. Ken Ashigbey, why Chairman Wontumi is still free to go about his business when he ought to be under investigation and prosecuted, President Akufo-Addo said that Akonta Mining is not now engaging in any criminal activity.

“Let me respond briefly to the chairperson on the issue of illegal mining. 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.”

The Lands Ministry forbade the Company, which is owned by Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, the chairman of the New Patriotic Party for the Ashanti Region, from mining in the Tano Nimiri forest reserve in October 2022.

The Ministry claims that despite Akonta Mining Limited having a mining lease to conduct mining activities in specific areas of Samreboi outside the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve, the company lacked the mineral rights necessary to conduct any mining operations there.

The Special Prosecutor is looking at the situation right now.

Meanwhile, the Lands Minister, Abu Jinapor, has defended President Akufo-Addo saying that the President’s statement on Akonta Mining was an assurance of the state of affairs.

Source: Opemsuo.com/ Emmanuel Owusu Anti