Chairman Wontumi Dares Mahama To Stop Him From Mining In Forest Reserves

• The New Patriotic Party's Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, has dared former president John Mahama to stop him from mining in forest reserves
• The National Democratic Congress flagbearer has pledged to rid Ghana's forest reserves of miners, including Chairman Wontumi's Akonta Mining Company
• But Chairman Wontumi said the pledge was only an indication of John Mahama's vindictiveness towards his political opponents

The New Patriotic Party’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, also known as Chairman Wontumi, has challenged the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Mahama.

The challenge follows John Mahama’s promise to throw out miners mining in forest reserves across the country.

He said his future government would amend the laws opening forest reserves to miners for exploration and exploitation to end the indiscriminate destruction of Ghana’s forests and water bodies.

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He threatened to kick Akonta Mining, a mining firm owned by Chairman Wontumi, out of forest reserves it was desecrating.

Chairman Wontumi, disturbed by the threat, has dared the former president to try to drive him out of the forest reserve.

He said his mining activities in the forest reserve are legal and backed by the requisite documentation and authorisation from the regulatory authorities.

He said he had never faced problems obtaining the requisite permissions for his activities and dared John Mahama to push him out of the forest if he won Ghana’s presidency.

“Can you push Wontumi?" he dared.

Chairman Wontumi added that John Mahama’s presidential bid was merely a vindictive trip to crush his opponents.

He said the former president has nothing to offer Ghanaians, particularly those in the Ashanti Region, and thus should be rejected at the polls.

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Akonta Mining cleared by Akufo-Addo

In 2023, Akonta Mining Company Limited was cleared of illegal mining charges.

According to President Nana Akufo-Addo, the company was not engaged in the menace in any part of the country.

The exoneration came at a time when several well-meaning Ghanaians called for punitive actions against the company and its owners, led by Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, also known as Chairman Wontumi, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), for mining in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve.

The president clarified that Akonta Mining was not engaging in criminal activity while speaking at the 28th National and 16th Biennial Congress of the National Union of Ghana Catholic Diocesan Priests Association, held in Koforidua on Wednesday, January 4, 2022.

Anti-galamsey campaigner pushes against exoneration

YEN.com.gh reported that the convener of the Media Coalition Against Illegal Mining expressed disappointment in President Nana Akufo-Addo’s defence of Akonta Mining.

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According to the convener of the coalition, Dr Ken Ashigbey, the public utterance by the president is worrying and could hinder ongoing investigations into the company’s alleged illegal operations.

Dr Ashigbey questioned the president's decision to clear the Chairman Wontumi-related company when state agencies monitoring the nation's mining operations had already acknowledged their role in the incident.

Proofread by Berlinda Entsie, journalist and copy editor at YEN.com.gh

Source: YEN.com.gh