The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, has dismissed reports that there were attempts to gag the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, during a Regional Consultative Dialogue on Small-Scale Mining.
According to him, the speech was prepared by the Manhyia Palace and there was no way he, the Regional Minister or the Lands Minister could have influenced it.
He explained it was only a passing comment to save time at the event since Otumfuo had other important things to attend to.
“Otumfuo had other important things to attend to but out of respect decided to attend to us and later go back to the other agenda. So we were only trying to have a brief event,” he said on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen.
The Asantehene in his address said Mr Osei-Mensah and the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, asked him to stick to his speech.
According to him, they thought he would say something controversial if he swayed from the dialogue, where he challenged stakeholders to be truthful in the fight against illegal small-scale mining in the country.
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However, the Minister stressed Otumfuo is one person nobody can gag, adding that anyone who tries that will only spell doom for him or herself.
Otumfuo at the event also asked the stakeholders to be truthful to themselves in the galamsey fight, especially chiefs who have sold out lands to the galamseyers to mine illegally.