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General News of Saturday, 16 January 2021

Source: mynewsgh.com

The company I vouched for was engaged in legal mining - Charles Owusu defends

Charles Owusu says he is not involved in illegal mining Charles Owusu says he is not involved in illegal mining

The relative of the late Sir John who was complicit in a Joy News Report on illegal mining in the Ashanti Region, Charles Owusu has denied allegations of being involved in any form of illegal mining.

According to him, as a worker of the forestry Commission he discharged his duties diligently for the country he has always loved.

He denied all allegations leveled against him by the Joy News report.

“First of all, I deny all the allegations levelled against me by the joy news publication on Jan 9, 2021. I have never engaged in any galamsey activity neither will I ever be part of such illegality. I was head of Operations at the Forestry Commission between 2017 to 2020.”

And he indicated that the company he vouched for had all the needed documents that allowed for mining.

“The company (Kingsperp) I vouched for as having the license to mine gold in the Ashanti region was factual and there are copious documentation to prove that. Its very unfortunate that Joynews will do a story to blatantly accuse me of supporting an illegal mining operation without hearing my side of the story. I hope its an oversight.”

To him, posterity will be the true judge.

Below is Charles Owusu’s Statement On The Allegations

MY HANDS ARE CLEAN AND MY WORK SPEAKS FOR ITSELFI am a young man who has dedicated more than a decade of my life speaking to the ills of our society and how we can all help correct it. My intention is to help develop our country.

This is the mindset I took to Public service. Pure unadulterated public service for God and country. I served my boss; not my relation Sir John, the Forestry Commission, and Ghana to the admiration of many whom I had the opportunity to meet during these periods. I am proud to have served my country.

First of all, I deny all the allegations levelled against me by the joy news publication on Jan 9, 2021. I have never engaged in any galamsey activity neither will I ever be part of such illegality. I was head of Operations at the Forestry Commission between 2017 to 2020.

And I have spent most of my time chasing illegal miners from site and stopping illegal filling of trees in the forest in all the 4 years that I have been there. I can say without equivocation that nobody in the life of the Forestry Commission, has stopped and apprehended illegal operators from our forests like I have done over the period of my stay. My records are there for all to see.

The company (Kingsperp) I vouched for as having the license to mine gold in the Ashanti region was factual and there are copious documentation to prove that. Its very unfortunate that Joynews will do a story to blatantly accuse me of supporting an illegal mining operation without hearing my side of the story. I hope its an oversight.

But if this is a deliberate attempt to tarnish my hard earned reputation, i can assure them that, no single evidence of my involvement in galamsey can be found anywhere in my 4 years work with the forestry commission. I worked selflessly for God and country, and my records are clean and available for the public to scrutinize.

This country belongs to all of us and we must do everything within our power to protect it. We shouldn’t allow internal partisan machinations and personal hatred to cause us to destroy each other. My hands are clean and my work at the Commission speak for itself.

I challenge anyone within the Forestry and mining industry to bring one evidence that links me to any galamsey operation or activity. Posterity and Providence will judge us all. I rest my case.