I disagree with the president – Kweku Baako on Akufo-Addo’s excavator burning comment

• The president on May 26 asked aggrieved miners to go to court over burning of excavators by the military

• Veteran journalist Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr has however reiterated his disagreement with that position

• He holds that there are enough laws to deal with seized machinery and government should simply enforce them

Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr, Editor-in-Chief of The New Crusading Guide newspaper, has said he disagrees with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s advice that people who disagreed with on-site burning of excavators involved in illegal small scale mining, should seek legal redress.

GhanaWeb monitored comments Kweku Baako Jnr made to the effect that the country had enough laws to combat the illegality of galamsey without resorting to actions that were themselves illegal.

According to him, it was clear that only persons who believed they had been attacked despite having the license to mine will head to court and not persons or entities engaged in galamsey.

“I disagree with the president. Those who can go to court and I suspect will go to court are those who think they were doing the right thing and yet law enforcement came to disrupt it.

“Those who have valid licenses and are mining in the way the law determines that you should mine, because you can have a valid licenses and like the president himself said, be doing the wrong thing.

“But even then, we have too many of the laws and regulations… so those who will end up going to court are those who believe that they have been unfairly and unjustly treated. That is clear,” he added whiles speaking on Joy FM’s news analysis program, News File on Sunday, May 29.

What did the president say?

Speaking on May 26, at the sod-cutting ceremony to commence the Law Village Project, the President entreated mining operators who have had their equipment confiscated and destroyed during by Operation Halt to seek legal redress if they believe they feel unduly shortchanged.

“I know there are some who believe that the ongoing exercise of ridding our water bodies and forest zones of harmful equipment and machinery is unlawful and, in some cases, harsh.

“I strongly disagree, and I would advise those who take a contrary view to go to court to vindicate their position, if they so wish. That is what the rule of law is all about,” he stated.