By Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
Self-styled TV evangelist Agraada, recently freed from a 15-year jail sentence, offered a prayerful word for Chairman Wontumi, jailed 20 years for illegal mining. She wrote: “Oh GOD, I will remember you in prayers. Oh my big brother, let us all be very careful because the law is the law.” Note she didn’t call it a political trial.
Frankly, from my lunch with Chairman Wontumi about a month and a half ago, I didn’t sense his ordeal was politically engineered. He said, “If I had my way, there were things I would have done differently.”
I advise the opposition NPP leadership to tread cautiously and not mislead followers by labeling Wontumi a “political prisoner,” especially with other grave cases against him still pending. He has agreed to refund millions in the Exim Bank case, for instance.
I’d rather they follow Honourable John Darko, Suame MP and Ashanti caucus leader, who urged calm while exploring legal options to challenge the ruling. This is one of the highest-profile successful prosecutions of an illegal mining case in Ghana.
It is my hope that it begins breaking the protective claws of politics from suspected big politicians engaged in illegal mining, so the law deals with them. That is the only way we can win the war against illegal mining and water pollution.
All politicians named in former Minister Dr. Frimpong Boateng’s “sacred dossier” on destructive illegal mining should be invited by police and prosecuted once sufficient evidence is established.
Further, we must encourage the President to name big NDC politicians he knows are deeply entangled in illegal mining. EOCO must fast-track investigations into named NDC officials Yamin and Abanga Yakubu, alleged to be fantastic galamseyers. Only then can we believe the government is committed to fighting this cancer without fear or favour.
We are grateful to the hardworking Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, my good friend, Minister Kofi Buah, who is navigating an intricate political minefield to restore our flora and fauna. His ability to reverse the raid on Achimota Forest by his predecessor is a masterstroke.
Yet, the Minister must protect his reputation from whimsical, plundering acts cloaked as legal actions by agencies like the Minerals Commission. These amount to the same offence; or worse, seizing legally registered mines at the slightest sign of alleged wrongdoing by law-abiding entities that assure state revenue and employment.
I have followed the curious case of Adamus Resources, where the Minerals Commission revoked mining leases over its Nkroful, Akango, and Salman concessions. It claims Adamus signed a Mining Service Agreement with AUFL under its watch, with the Chief Inspector of Mines of the same Minerals Commission granting AUFL an operating permit. Shockingly, the Commission now denies knowing AUFL and alleges its activities constitute full-blown mining without permission.
Having seen all documentation, I have no doubt: the accusations against Adamus are heavily contrived and choreographed over just three investigative days, without following Act 703’s rules. These include notifying the leaseholder of alleged breaches, affording a hearing, and allowing time to remedy any breach before suspension or cancellation.
As if these abuses weren’t enough, the Minerals Commission rushed to advise the Minister to illegally seize Adamus Resources and install a faceless, inept Interim Management Committee (IMC) to oversee operations.
The IMC claims to ensure continuity, protect jobs, safeguard assets, maintain economic stability, and advise government on long-term action. It is vested with full authority to direct operations, access records, and take decisions.
I am sure even state-sponsored bandits who seized lands in Zimbabwe would be astonished at the speed of Adamus’s torpedoing. My dear friend Minister Buah, these acts of banditry must not be committed in your name. The Minerals Commission is wrong and has handed you a poisoned chalice—virtually stealing assets of a globally renowned mining company. It is not good.
READ ALSO: Wontumi Sentenced to 20 Years in Samreboi Galamsey Trial
