National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Buem constituency in the Volta Region, Mr. Daniel Kwasi Ashiamah, has descended heavily on government for revoking the mining lease granted to Exton Cubic Limited to mine bauxite deposits in a forest reserve in Nyinahin of the Ashanti Region.
Speaking on GTV Breakfast Show yesterday in Accra, Mr. Ashiamah was upset over the development, and described the decision by government, which was announced by the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Mr. John Peter Amewu, as “shameful and political witch-hunting.”
He questioned the government’s decision to declare that the three mining leases granted to the company were invalid because the country’s mining laws were not duly followed in securing the said licences.
According to Mr. Ashiamah, the government should have ‘sympathised’ with the Exton Cubic Limited since the company was owned by Ghanaians, saying that “rushing to revoke the licence granted to the company will rather worsen the unemployment rate of the youth in Nyinahini and its adjoining communities.”
“Government should have given Exton Cubic Group Limited ample time to rectify corrections and errors in order for the company to qualify to engage in illegal mining at the forest reserve in Nyinahini,” he suggested.
Mr. Ashiamah said it was very unfortunate that a local Ghanaian company engaged in legitimate business with the objective of creating over 20,000 jobs for the teeming unemployed youth would be subjected to such unfair treatment by the government.
The livid MP thus accused the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of planning to grant the environment permit licence to Chinese companies to mine bauxite deposits in the same forest reserve in Nyinahini.
“We have been told that top officials of the ruling NPP government are in haste to give the same controversial bauxite concession to Chinese companies to undertake mining of bauxite because they (the NPP members) claim that they will have 5% profit from these Chinese companies,” Mr. Ashiamah disclosed.
But the NDC MP warned government against any attempt(s) to unduly favour foreigners with small-scale mining vis-a-vis the streamlining of the sector which was under consideration by government.
He also alleged that government was planning to amend the current laws on small-scale mining which allow only Ghanaians to acquire such licence, to medium scale mining that will open up and create an avenue for foreigners to also obtain such licences and better still dominate the enterprise.
He said: “We will resist any such plans by the government by all lawful means, even at the peril of our very lives.
Mr. Ashiamah noted that small-scale mining must always remain the preserve of only Ghanaians and as such he will employ all lawful means to bring pressure to bear on the government to abandon its plans to unduly favouring foreigners at the expense of hardworking Ghanaians.”
Story: Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu
