NDC calls for public inquiry into report which named NPP officials allegedly involved in galamsey

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has announced its intention to request a public inquiry into a report by Professor Frimpong-Boateng, which implicates officials from Ghana's governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in illegal mining activities.

Sammy Gyamfi, the NDC's National Communications Officer, called on the Special Prosecutor's office to investigate the matter and urged Parliament to establish a publicly televised, bi-partisan probe to uncover the truth. 

Gyamfi accused President Akufo-Addo of promoting a fraudulent campaign against corruption and claimed that the government had made no genuine efforts to combat illegal mining. 

He said: “The NDC hereby calls on the Special Prosecutor to take a keen interest in this matter and launch a full-scale investigation into this matter with the aim of prosecuting anyone found culpable.

“Given the considerable public interest in this matter and what it portends for Ghana’s image among the global comity of nations, we wish to call on Parliament to set up a publicly-televised and bi-partisan probe into this matter in order to ascertain the truth”.

The NDC cited Professor Frimpong-Boateng's report as evidence that top officials within the NPP were involved in the illegal mining trade.

“We in the NDC have always maintained, President Akufo-Addo’s proclaimed fight against galamsey was the biggest scam ever to be perpetrated on Ghanaians,” he said.

“The so-called fight against galamsey was a charade calculated to enable top government and NPP functionaries to appropriate and takeover the illicit galamsey trade,” the NDC National Communications Officer said.

All the NPP members named in the report have denied involvement in illegal mining while the Presidency has dismissed the report as hearsay.