The Attorney-General, Godfred Dame, has said the comments made by the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, relative to his legal opinion on the report issued by the former chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) on illegal small scale mining (Galamsey) Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, are untrue, hollow and offensive statements.
Sammy Gyamfi had accused Mr Dame of engaging in a sinister move to cover up for government officials accused of engaging in Galamsey.
It is recalled that the Attorney-General’s advice on the ‘galamsey’ report concluded that “in the absence of any evidence on the docket in support of any of the allegations of illegal mining activities, we are unable to recommend the prosecution of any of the persons cited in the Report. They should therefore be discharged. We however await the outcome of the investigations conducted in the case involving Seth Mantey, John Ofori Atta and Ekow Ewusi.”
But addressing the NDC’s ‘Moment of Truth’ press encounter in Accra on Monday, October 16, Sammy Gyamfi said “Having meticulously analysed the content of the Attorney-General’s legal opinion, we have come to the irresistible conclusion that the said advice is nothing but a poor attempt to cover-up the complicity of officials of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government and the ruling NPP in the illicit galamsey trade.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the claims by Mr. Godfred Yeboah Dame that there is no evidence to substantiate the damning revelations contained in the 36-page Frimpong Boateng galamsey report are simply false.
“The Attorney-General’s latest step or call it a misstep, on the subject of this all-important, scathing Galamsey report, is part of the coordinated efforts to whitewash the crimes of many in government since this matter first broke.”
Responding to Sammy Gyamfi, the Attorney-General said “The docket built by the CID on the Frimpong-Boateng report presented to the Office of the Attorney-General for review, was an inquiry into specific allegations by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng against specifically named individuals. Same was not a probe into general Galamsey issues in the country as the NDC mischievously sought to portray to the nation.
“The conclusions by the learned Chief State Attorney are thus only in relation to those specific allegations. Prosecution for Galamsey offences, including those committed in all forest reserves and water bodies, continues throughout the country.
“In spite of a multitude of allegations and invectives spewed on me by the Communications Officer of the NDC, not a single piece of evidence was furnished by the NDC in proof of any allegation made by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng against any person named in his report. The entire NDC’s press conference was, in point of fact, vitiated by a fraudulent attempt at explaining their orchestrated lies and abuses against me, as they are wont to do.
“The following individuals were cited by Frimpong-Boateng as being involved in illegal mining – Laud Commey, Charles Nii Teiko Tagoe, Frank Asiedu Bekoe @ Protozoa, Hon. Joseph Albert Quarm, Charles Owusu, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, Captain (Rtd.) Edmund Kojo Koda, Donald Entsuah and an unnamed former Member of Parliament for Wassa East Constituency. Seth Mantey, John Ofori Atta and Ekow Ewusi were alleged to be involved in the sale of excavators, whilst Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko,
“Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and Kwaku Baako Jnr. were alleged to have committed acts which indirectly inhibited the Professor in the work assigned to him.”
He added that at the end of the press conference by the NDC, “not a shred of evidence had been produced by the NDC against any of the persons named above. The wild allegation that I am engaged in an exercise to cover up crimes allegedly committed by them is therefore perplexing, dubious and mischievous to say the least.
“I deem that press conference by the NDC as only the latest in the series of attacks on me for decisions taken in the regular course of my functions as Attorney-General which that political party finds to be inimical to its interests.”