The national communication officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has accused the presidency of deceiving Ghanaians regarding the residence of President Akufo-Addo, whose garden was destroyed by illegal small-scale mining (galamsey).
According to him, the president and his office bused journalists to his mother’s house in Kyebi in the Eastern Region, not the residence that was destroyed by galamsey activities.
“The president doesn’t own just one property in Kyebi. The house he took the journalist to is his mother’s residence at Kyebi Newtown. But apart from that, Akufo-Addo owns a property in between Kyebi Esikam and Adukrom, honourable Ofosu Ampofo's hometown.
“This property is a security zone, which is fenced. And on that property, which is managed by the said Eric Antwi, a national security operative, he (the president) runs a cattle farm there and has a garden there.
“I’m daring the presidency that if they say that galamsey is not going on any property of the President in Kyebi, let them bus media men to that property and let's see what will come out,” he said in an interview on TV3 monitored by GhanaWeb, on Saturday.
He added that national security operatives at the said residences have warned that anybody who comes there will be shot and killed.
“We are not children in this country. We know what is happening, we have our ears on the ground. Some of them got wind of the fact that we were intending to come there, and they have been sending threats that if we come there, they will shoot and kill us,” he added.
Background:
Former environment minister, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng wrote in a report submitted to the presidency that illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) had ravaged parts of the Eastern Region affecting the president's private residence in his village.
The 2021 report by the then chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) listed a number of top government and party officials complicit in galamsey activities or those alleged to have frustrated the work of the committee.
The report alleged that a local youth organizer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) had engaged in galamsey near the president's house till it affected a garden in the residence.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng added that he dispatched a team that verified the incident and without telling the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo went ahead to reclaim the land and vegetate the area.
However, audio-visuals of the said residence show no sign of the said destruction.
The vegetation and structures of the residence appear not to have been tampered with.
Speaking to the media at the residence, the chief of Kyebi, Osabarima Marfo Kwabre, said that the claims made by Prof Frimpong-Boateng are mere fabrications.
He said that the trees and environment of the Akufo-Addo’s house speak for themselves. He, therefore, the former science and technology minister to retract and apologise for the claims he made, asaaseradio.com reports.
“I wonder why people with high positions can bring themselves so low to that extent of telling lies… I don’t see the point because there is a house here with trees in it up to this point, and I’m not sure how we were able to dig the gold, remove the trees, and replace them,
“So, the trees speak for us, and I don’t believe we need to. The trees and the environment speak for themselves,” the chief is quoted to have said.
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