Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission, Dr. Toni Aubynn expressed his displeasure and disappointment in the senior minister Yaw Osafo Maafo over his comments about the release of an illegal Chinese miner Aisha Huang to safeguard the country’s relationship with China.
Mr. Osafo Maafo justified the government’s decision to discontinue the prosecution of Aisha Huang. According to him, jailing her in Ghana could have had a negative impact on the Country’s economy.
He made the comments at the government’s recent town hall meeting in the US in response to a question from a participant at the program who sought to know why the government deported the Chinese national instead of jailing her in accordance with Ghanaian laws.
Osafo Maafo in his response stressed Ghana’s diplomatic ties with China and the huge investments Chinese companies are making in developing the country’s infrastructure, citing the $2 billion Sinohydro deal.
The Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission, Dr. Tony Aubynn however wants government to dissolve the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining insisting the directorate is meaningless to the fight against illegal mining.
The Inter-Ministerial Committee on illegal mining was commissioned in March 2017 by President Akufo-Addo to sanitize artisanal and small-scale mining in the country as well as develop a roadmap towards lifting an indefinite ban on small scale mining that lasted for about 21 months.
It was set up to vet registered small scale miners in the country to streamline their operations and make recommendations to the President to lift the ban on illegal mining.
But in an interview with Agya Owusu Ansah on Otec FM flagship afternoon political talk show dubbed “DWABEREM”, Dr. Aubynn argued that it’s rather prudent for the government to strengthen mandated state agencies like the Minerals Commission to lead the charge against the menace confronting the nation than always establishing parallel bodies with overlapping roles.
“It’s good that the President established the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, but frankly the Committee has outlived its importance now and ought to be scrapped. It should have been dissolved after sometime and this accounts for the reason why there has been some excesses in their job evident in the alleged bribery and corruption in Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ expose on illegal mining. At this point in time, its best we strengthen the institutions in the sector to take up the fight. If we want to really move forward as a country, we need to strengthen our institutions to work effectively.” he told the DWABEREM host Agya Owusu Ansah on Otec FM .
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com/Louis Gyamerah
