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Politics of Thursday, 27 May 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Name the big men involved in galamsey - Allotey Jacobs dares Ablakwa

Sacked NDC member, Bernard Allotey Jacobs play videoSacked NDC member, Bernard Allotey Jacobs

• Allotey Jacobs said there's no need for CID, EOCO to investigate the matter

• He challenged Ablakwa to name the big men financing the activities of galamsey

• Allotey Jacobs said the allegations made by Ablakwa are vague

Social commentator, Bernard Allotey Jacobs, has reacted to claims made by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, that some powerful people in government are behind illegal small scale mining, popularly known as galamsey in the country.

Okudzeto Ablakwa in his allegation wondered why not even one galamsey overlord, financier, supposed big man or woman has been arrested and prosecuted for engaging in galamsey.

In a Facebook, he said, “It strikes me as really strange that in this entire galamsey fight we have not had one galamsey overlord, one real architect, an actual financier arrested and prosecuted. Isn’t that where the fight should have started from? We all know from the kind of sophisticated equipment at play that only a few moneybags can initiate a galamsey operation...Is it not time to put out a handsome amount of money as reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest of the big men/women behind the destructively criminal galamsey gang? Remember those cloaked with authority over intelligence gathering say they do not know the real henchmen.”

Reacting to this, sacked member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bernard Allotey Jacobs called on Okudzeto Ablakwa to name the big men allegedly involved in galamsey.

He averred that the said accusation does not need the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to investigate since he's privy to that information.

"It doesn't need EOCO or CID and so forth, since he knows them, he should mention their names...Who are the big men?" he quizzed.

He said this on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' show on Wednesday, May 26, 2021.