The Chiefs of Nyinanhini are calling on the government to allow Exton Cubic Group to continue bauxite exploration in the Nyinanhini bauxite concession in the Tano Offin Forest reserve.

The company has encountered considerable opposition after residents of the town prevented a subcontracted firm Engineers and Planners (E&P) from entering the reserve with their machines.

According to the Chiefs, Ibrahim Mahama, owner of E&P who is a brother of the former President John Dramani Mahama is a maternal kin of the land and not an outsider.

Addressing a press conference, the Chief of Nkawie Panin, Nana Kusi Amankwah Marfo II debunked assertions that the minerals of Nyinanhini were being handed to strangers.

“…We also heard that people are unhappy that the brother of the former President John Dramani Mahama is here to take what belongs to us, but Ibrahim and the former President are from the same father. Paternally, they are Gonjas but from his mothers’ side, he is a son of Nyinanhini Panin,” Nana Kusi Amankwah Marfo II pointed out.

The chief also cleared that the company has duly been licensed by government and cleared by the traditional authorities to operate in the forest reserve.

He stated, “Exton Cubic didn’t appear from the blue. Their operations were duly licensed. Again government only gave them 58% of the bauxite concession. There is 42% left for the taking’.

The chiefs’ statement is a sharp contrast to agitations by Nyinanhini residents to stop Exton Cubic Group from mining.