Attorney General (AG) and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, says he has recorded greater success in the fight against illegal mining also known as galamsey than the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.
This comes after the opposition party on Monday, October 16, demanded the immediate resignation of the AG following his advice to the police on former Environment Minister, Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng’s galamsey report.
The AG asked the Criminal Investigative Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service to clear all persons mentioned in the 36-page report because it lacked concrete evidence for prosecution.
NDC’s National Communication Officer, Sammy Gyamfi described AG’s opinion as a dubious legal advice and cover up for serious crimes.
But in a statement issued on Wednesday, October 18, Mr. Dame described the accusations by the opposition party as “baseless and unmeritorious”.
Mr. Dame said his achievements in galamsey prosecutions is unparalleled.
The AG’s office disclosed that, over 130 cases of illegal mining involving over 800 accused persons are currently being prosecuted in courts in the Western, Eastern, Ashanti, Greater-Accra, and Upper East regions of Ghana.
The office also revealed that 33 persons including 11 foreigners were convicted and sentenced under Act 995 in the Eastern region between August 2021 and September 2022.
Mr. Dame also called out the NDC for woefully failing to “arrest and prosecute a single kingpin of the menace including ‘galamsey queen’, Aisha Huang”.
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