A-G prosecutes 15 illegal mining cases

The Office of the Attorney General is currently prosecuting 15 illegal mining cases in the Eastern, Western and the Greater Accra regions.

Out of the 15 cases pending before the courts, one (Republic versus Li Wei, two others) at the High Court in Accra is set for judgment, as both the defence counsel and the prosecution have been ordered to file their written addresses for dates to be given for judgment.

Providing details of the trials, the Attorney-General and Minster of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, told the Daily Graphic that while four of the cases were set for trial, six others were at pretrial stages, with majority of them at the case management conference.  

Two of the cases are ongoing but the other two are static due to the difficulty of the court to procure the services of an interpreter, as well as the accused persons jumping bail. 

Courts

Furthermore, six of the cases are before the High Court in Sekondi, with two others ready for trial before the Takoradi High Court.

Aside from that, there are six other active cases before the Circuit Court in Koforidua, while some have been adjourned for case management. There are also others that have been adjourned due to the absence of the accused persons, compelling the court to issue a warrant for their arrest.

Call

Mr Dame had in October, this year, called on the Chief Justice to direct all judges hearing galamsey cases to conclude them within one month.

He said that would go a long way to ensure justice is delivered for the heinous harm caused to the people by the devastating act.

The A-G said the trial of illegal mining cases was one of the categories of cases that progressed at a slow pace as illegal mining continued to cause incalculable damage to the country’s forest reserves and rivers.

Giving further details, Mr Dame said currently, more than 140 cases of illegal mining involving over 850 accused persons were pending in courts in the Western, Eastern, Ashanti, Greater Accra and Upper East regions.

He disclosed that some of the cases had been pending since 2020.

“This situation cannot be right. We are in an urgent national crisis and all citizens and institutions with any form of role to play must be called to action,” he said, calling on the Chief Justice to direct judges hearing such cases to conclude same within one month from the commencement of the legal year from October 10, this year.

In the same vein, he called on politicians to desist from encouraging galamsey through their rhetoric and actions.

“Those who preach amnesty for galamsey offenders must be rejected. There should be no place for the grant of amnesty for such crimes in our body politic as the lives of citizens and future of our nation are at risk,” Mr Dame added.

However, the Chief Justice, Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, defended the judges, saying, the delay in the determination of galamsey cases emanated from the work of prosecutors and not the bench.