The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has dismissed claims that a mining lease has been granted to mine in the Effutu (Yenkum) forest in the Central Region where the Aboakyir Festival takes place.
He challenged the people making the claim to produce the said mining lease.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Thursday, December 7, he said “A mining lease that has been granted in respect of a particular forest reserve is easily verifiable from the website of the Minerals Commission. So it is either a mining has been granted or a mining lease has not been granted. To that extent, let me be very emphatic and without a shred of equivocation indicate that there is no mining lease in respect of Yenkum Forest reserve which is where the Aboakyir takes place. So anybody who claims that there is a mining lease covering Yenkum forest reserves where Aboakyir takes place is a figment of the person’s imagination, it is not correct, it is not true, you can verify that.”
Earlier, the Member of Parliament for Effuti, Alexander Afenyo-Markin accused the the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in his constituency of peddling falsehood to the effect that the forest had been sold.
Addressing the press in Parliament on Tuesday, December 5, he said “The NDC in my constituency has come out with a serious allegation to the effect that government officials including my office sat unconcerned and got the sacred forest of where we go for deer hunting that the place has been sold for the mining of Lithium.
“I simply want to state that this allegation is false, it is never true and in fact, the Minerals Commission, two years ago issued a statement to the effect that such an application has not even been received by them let alone approved for a company to mine lithium in that sacred forest where we haunt for dear during the Aboakyir Festival.
“I just want to set the record straight that there is no such thing. I will therefore want to urge my colleagues in the NDC to focus on the real changes facing our people so that we engage in an issue rather than polluting the minds of people, misinforming, and lying. such a practice does not help in democracy.”
The Minerals Commission also responded to concerns raised by traditional authorities in Effutu that a company had been granted the mineral right to mine in the forest.
The Commission said it had not granted any permit for mining in the forest.