Abdul Malik Kweku Baako is calling for stiff punishment for Akonta Mining Ltd - a company that belongs to Chairman Wontumi, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP - for invading the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve without mining the required license.
Speaking on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo Morning Show on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, the Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper noted that, a thorough investigation into the activities of Akonta mining will prove that the company illegally entered the forest reserve.
"The company should be investigated in terms of their invasion, intrusion of the forest reserve without a licence and duly punished by law," he said.
Baako stressed that the investigation will "either enhance the integrity of the fight" against galamsey or "diminish it".
Chairman Wontumi, has meanwhile, denied reports that his company was involved in illegal mining.
“I am appealing to them to use the law. They should do their investigations, and we should let the law work,” he said on his TV station, Wontumi TV.
Wontumi also responded to speculation that he is involved in illegal mining, saying, “I want to tell the public that I am not into galamsey.
“I have a large-scale company which is Akonta mining … All the required documents I have, I will make all available,” he added.
Akonta Mining Company Limited was said to have been operating unlawfully in the Nimiri Tano forest reserve in the Amenfi West Municipality of the Western Region.
According to the government, while the mining company has a lease to undertake mining operations in some parts of Samreboi, the company has no right to undertake any mining operation in the said forest reserve.
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PEN/SARA
