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The Minority caucus has raised concerns that an alleged loss of hundreds of millions of dollars to the state may be linked to environmental breaches and illegal mining activities.
Speaking at the same press conference on Monday, December 29, Minority representative Kojo Oppong Nkrumah warned that the arrangement at the center of the controversy could be enabling the purchase of illegally mined gold.
“There are environmental issues that have to be dealt with,” he said.
According to him, the Minority believes urgent intervention is required to prevent public funds from being channeled into unlawful activities.
“As of now, we have every reason to believe that state money is being used to buy galamsey gold,” Oppong Nkrumah stated.
He said the caucus would be demanding immediate regulatory action to protect forest reserves and improve monitoring systems.
“One of the things we’ll be asking for is a suspension of permits in forest reserves and the introduction of serious measures on traceability,” he explained.
Oppong Nkrumah noted that transparency failures within the gold framework have created room for abuse and environmental harm.
“We need to understand in detail what has happened and put measures in place to ensure that it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
He added that any wrongdoing established through investigations must attract sanctions.
“Where negligence or corruption is proven, prosecutions must follow,” he said.
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