Mr. Nitiwul said his ministry will ensure that any military personnel caught to be engaged in the illegal act will be duly dealt with.
Dominic Nitiwul said this in reaction to claims by John Peter Amewu who has alleged that some military men were protecting some foreign illegal miners.
Speaking on Citi FM, Mr. Amewu said, “the law enforcement agency, especially the Military are protecting an illegality and I think that it is time the truth be told. Most of the sites we visited today were heavily manned by the military command and I was wondering under what circumstances were they undertaking this exercise because my outfit had under no circumstance signed any contract with the military to protect that illegality.”
But in a sharp response, the Defence Minister said, his outfit has not dispatched any military personnel to undertake such activity.
“I would not want to doubt what he has put out there… If there is any soldier or Commanding Officer in any of our garrisons or battalion that has allowed his soldiers to go and engage in illegal mining, the army is not aware of it. As it stands now, the army has not and will not authorize anybody to engage in protecting galamseyers, those doing illegal mining. When anybody is found out to have acted against the army directives, that person will be taken through the due process, first through the army disciplinary process and of course the civilian processes,” Dominic Nitiwul told the media who was on familiarization tour of all the military installations under his ministry.
He noted that the Ministry is processing to review the current arrangements which allows soldiers to protect mining concessions in the country.
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By: Sammy Agyei//Frontpageghana.com
