A member of the National Democratic Congress\u2019 (NDC) communication team, Abraham Amaliba has accused government of \u201cunnecessarily frustrating” Exton Cubic Company, the firm prospecting Bauxite in the Tano-Offin Forest Reserve because of Ibrahim Mahama.<\/p>\n
According to him, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has adopted such tactics to cause disaffection for the company and subsequently withdraw the permit it gave Exton Cubic to undertake the exploration of bauxite.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that it is clearly because of Ibrahim\u2019s connection to the company. This is a man who is connected to the former president. What they are doing now is an attempt to put this information out there to cause disaffection and also start some agitations within the Ghanaian population and we\u2019ve seen that in Nyinahin [the town where the site is located] \u00a0 where the people there are already in arms. And it will create the further ground for them [NPP government] to say that we are withdrawing the permit,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”UxPY87uda9pfnkcqiO63vsZree30cWKp”]Exton Cubic together with Ibrahim Mahama\u2019s company; Engineers and Planners (E&P), have been in the news lately after the Ashanti Region Minister, Simon Osei Mensah confiscated vehicles and equipment belonging to E&P.<\/p>\n
Simon Osei Mensah said he was waiting on official documentation from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources before releasing the equipment to E&P.<\/p>\n
Although the Minister of Lands and Natural Resource, John Peter Amewu<\/strong><\/a><\/span> cleared the companies of any wrongdoing, the Environmental Protection Agency<\/strong><\/a><\/span> said they failed to secure the necessary permit from it.<\/p>\n But speaking on TV3\u2019s New Day on Thursday, Amaliba said the entrenched positions adopted by both EPA and Regional Minister could only be described as \u201cpolitical machinations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have heard the Minister of lands categorically indicate that the company and its activities and its ability to go and mine was above board. He also indicated the company has met all the requirements. I was even calling on the Ashanti Regional Minister to realize the equipment and also called on the Attorney General to intervene. I\u2019m now hearing another government agency say that, the documents are fake\u2026 I also heard the spokesperson of the company indicating that they have written letters to the EPA asking them to expedite action on some of the things the EPA is complaining about today but they didn\u2019t get any response from them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo you cannot sleep on your responsibilities and then blame somebody for what you ought to do because the company had clearly written to the EPA indicating that they wanted to go to the site but the EPA did not response.”<\/p>\n Mr. Amaliba who is also a private legal practitioner added that “what we are seeing now is as a result of political machinations and\u00a0an attempt to cause disaffection and also start some agitations within the Ghanaian population as seen at\u00a0Nyinahin\u00a0 where the people there are already in arms and it will create the further ground for them to say that we are withdrawing the permit.”<\/p>\n Nyinahin youth demonstrate over bauxite deal<\/strong><\/p>\n The youth of Nyinahin in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region on Wednesday staged a demonstration in the area and gave government a 24-hour ultimatum to remove all machines belonging to Exton Cubic Company, from the Tano-Offin Forest Reserve.<\/p>\n In a petition to the President, the youth asked the first gentleman on the land to impound all machinery of Exton Cubic Company until proper agreement is reached by all stakeholders.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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