The former Member of Parliament for Manso Nkwanta Constituency, Joseph Albert Quarm, says he will let his lawyers write to Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng to retract all the allegations he made against him in his report on the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).
He will also demand an apology from the former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation.
“Other than that we will go to court,” he stated on The Keypoints on TV3/3FM on Saturday, April 22 as he responded to all the allegations levelled against him in the report.
In the report dated Friday, March 19, 2021, Prof Frimpong-Boateng pointed out how Mr Quarm used his position as an MP and a member of the Minerals Commission “to acquire several dozens of large scale concessions in his district, ostensibly for community mining purposes”.
“He ended up selling these concessions to private individuals, including party members for two hundred thousand Cedis per concession.
“This infuriated the party in the constituency so during the 2020 primaries to select a candidate the electorate voted against Hon. Quarm, the sitting MP, who was more resourced that other candidates.
“Although there were allegations that he ‘camped’ delegates and attempted to bribe them, he lost to a lesser known individual who did not have any financial muscle.”
But speaking on the weekend news analysis programme hosted by Alfred Ocansey, Mr Quarm said he owns no concession, not even one.
He rather raised concerns miners are not interested to go through the normal process to acquire permits from the Minerals Commission to mine legally.
“It’s like people are not interested in going to Minerals Commission to apply for the legal process to engage in mining.”
He said there are two big concessions currently in Manso Nkwanta lying fallow though illegal mining is still taking place in the constituency.
He said the Committee only failed in its work.