The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, George Mireku Duker, has once again refuted allegations that he is involved in illegal small-scale mining in the Western Region. Speaking in a Peace FM interview monitored by GhanaWeb, the deputy minister alleged that persons accusing him of engaging in illegal mining are part of a cartel who what him to support their chieftaincy bids. The deputy minister, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tarkwa Nsuaem, made this remark while reacting to contrasting statements by different factions of chiefs from Tarkwa on his involvement in illegal small-scale mining, otherwise known as 'galamsey'. "There is a whole chieftaincy issue. If you monitored the 2020 elections, you would have observed this. There is a cartel against me. They think I have to support their chieftaincy bids. "That is all this hullaballoo is about. Otherwise, why this counter and all that? As I have stated earlier, it does not matter even whether this person is a chief or not. What is important is the allegation. And whether he (the chief making the allegations against him) is a non-entity or not, it is important for us to observe that whatever you allege, you must provide it. "You can not just speculate and go free," he said in Twi. Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV, the Chief of Dompim-Pepesa, a community in the Western Region, had accused some government officials, including the deputy lands minister, of being behind the illegal mining menace in the country. George Mireku Duker had denied this allegation levelled against him by the chief and has filed a suit in court. Watch his interview below: Watch the latest episode of The Lowdown below: IB/SEA