Chairman Wontumi is an ecological terrorist; he must be prosecuted – Sam George

Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo Prampram, Samuel Nartey George has called on government to do everything possible to deal with the activities of illegal miners.

According to him, illegal mining popularly called galamsey is causing too much destruction to the land, water bodies and forest reserves.

Speaking to GHOne TV in an interview, Sam George stressed that Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi should be treated as an ecological terrorist for his involvement in illegal mining.

The lawmaker insists that Chairman Wontumi and any other person involved in illegal mining should be arrested and prosecuted.

“Deploy your military. Our military is not only for peacekeeping outside Ghana. This one Ghana needs peacekeepers. We need peacekeepers in Ghana.

"This is threatening our existence. This is biological warfare. You should call people like Wontumi an ecological terrorists because these are people terrorising our natural reserves, forest reserves, and water bodies. Call them out, and treat them as such. These are terrorists…Prosecute them,” Sam George indicated.

In his call to action, the Ningo Prampram MP noted that he will never believe President Akufo-Addo’s claim that he is committed to fighting galamsey until he sees a military deployment to guard the country’s forest reserves and water bodies.

“Deploy our military, move them to on the barracks and the basins, put them in there, and let’s have a national operation to clear our first reserves, clear our water bodies, and then you can tell me you are committed to the fight,” Sam George added.

But Chairman Wontumi has denied reports he is involved in illegal mining.

After the Forestry Commission was directed to halt the activities of Akonta Mining Limited’s operation owned by Chairman Wontumi and others.

Akonta Mining Company Limited was said to have been operating unlawfully in the Nimri 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 mineral right to undertake any mining operations in the Tano Nimiri forest reserve.

There have been calls for the prosecution of persons running Akonta Mining Limited’s operation in the forest reserve.

Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has today held a meeting with the National House of Chiefs and MMDCEs on the galamsey menace in the country.

He used the opportunity to call on the chiefs and MMDCEs to help him win the fight against illegal mining.