It is not a very nice question to ask of the “learned” Attorney-General of the country, but since that “learned personage” is in charge of all the Government’s efforts at enforcing the laws by which it rules us, we sometimes have to ask him unpleasant questions.
Our former President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was embarrassed in public when he stated that he did not know whether the Chinese galamsey ‘QUEENPIN’, Aisha Huang, had been “deported” from the country before reappearing to be rearrested! The embarrassment was greater because of the special relationship between the President and his AG, who had worked in the President’s chambers when the President had not been elected as head of state. Why wasn’t his “own man” briefing him adequately about the legal affairs of the country?
The current AG is also a person who can save his head of state from embarrassment because he served President John Mahama when Mr Mahama was previously in office.
Such a man would have been expected to listen carefully to what President Mahama has been saying about the NATIONAL problem that has been dominating the headlines—and public discussion, generally—ever since Mr Mahama regained the presidency. In case anyone reading this lives on the moon, that problem is that of galamsey.
So pervasive has the problem become that the President recently summoned all the Ministers concerned with “fighting” the disaster to a meeting with selected public and social bodies to discuss the problem and see how best to tackle it.
A great amount of verbiage was exchanged at the meeting. Many promises were made about how effective the “new measures” being adopted by the Mahama Government would be in defeating galamsey.
The fact that the “new measure” (as announced) amounted to “the same thing different” was glossed over by the Government members. They showed every inclination to believe in “WORD POWER”. Just as the NPP Government had done!
Unfortunately for the Government, but fortunately for Ghana! a simple issue soon occurred that would DEMONSTRATE unerringly how serious the Government is in its determination to fight galamsey.
A galamsey “kingpin” was caught and charged with carrying out illegal mining. Because past “arrests” of that nature had not contributed to stopping galamsey, everyone was alert as to HOW the Government would handle this galamsey “kingpin’s” case.
At first, it appeared as if the Government prosecutors were intent on taking the matter extremely seriously. They demanded huge sums of money as “bail” money from the accused galamsey “kingpin”. Sureties were enormously difficult to procure. So the public were taken in: yes, the Government wanted to set an example to other galamsey operators and “kingpins” (ESPECIALLY.)
But other observers of the court proceedings soon began to ask questions. The charges preferred against the accused were not based on ACT 995 – the amendment that the Akufo-Addo Government had enacted, against the vociferous opposition of some of its own Members of Parliament, to levy such heavy prison sentences plus fines for galamsey offences that BOTH Ghanaian and foreign galamsey operators would be frightened and end their participation in galamsey operations.
In explaining the need for the legislation, the then President noted that there were many times when the Government had prosecuted galamsey operators, only to find out that the judiciary let them off with light sentences. He wanted heavy sentences to deter galamsey operators because they were destroying Ghana’s water-bodies and forest reserves.
Maybe the current Attorney-General has an argument against the Akufo-Addo Government’s contention? Surely, on such a grievous matter, he and his departments cannot make a unilateral decision without giving the public A RATIONALE for the decision? I humbly ask for one because no-one raised that issue during the President’s dialogue with the social organisations.
Indeed, rather sadly, many of the bodies that have otherwise been doing excellent work protesting against the destruction wrought by galamsey appear to have failed to notice the disastrous, unilateral shelving of ACT 995 by the AG’s department!
BY CAMERON DUODU
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The post Mr Attorney-General, please are you aware of ‘Act 995’? appeared first on Ghanaian Times.
