Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin
THE AKYEM Abuakwa Traditional Council in the Eastern Region has asked the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to offer an unqualified apology to the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, for accusing him of being involved in illegal mining activities at Kyebi.
A BNI report released recently had accused the Okyenhene and some persons around him at his palace as being complicit in illegal mining activities popularly known as galamsey.
The report also confirmed widely-held opinions that powerful hands were behind the illegal mining activities.
However, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, immediately issued a release in which he cleared the Okyenhene and his palace of being involved in galamsey, saying, “The said BNI report only recorded a said perception against the Okyenhene’s palace.”
But the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council in a statement commending the minister for clearing the Okyenhene, demanded “an official apology from the Bureau of National Investigations with immediate effect,” lamenting that the report has seriously maligned the Okyenhene and the Ofori Panin Stool.
In the statement signed by its Director of Public Affairs, D.M. Ofori-Atta, the council expressed its “profound disapproval with regards to the conduct of the Bureau of National Investigations in this matter.”
It indicated, “The Bureau of National Investigations cannot fabricate stories and draw conclusions on the basis of their own invention.
“The Okyenhene has publicly expressed his opposition to mining of any kind, small scale or large scale. The Okyenhene does not control the army or the police. We wish to state that the Bureau of National Investigations has failed in its duty to the state.”
According to the council, “It would have served the national interest if the Bureau of National Investigations had focused on the failure of the security agencies to fight the menace of galamsey and not to recklessly accuse the Ofori Panin Stool of complicity in the galamsey menace.
BY Melvin Tarlue