Mention Names of The Galamsey Kingpins - Nana Akomea Charges Okudzeto Ablakwa & Co

Chief Executive Officer of the State Transport Corporation (STC), Nana Akomea, has challenged Member of Parliament(MP) for North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and any person who claims there are kingpins involved in galamsey, hence making the fight a difficult one, to name and shame the kingpins.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is of a strong view that the government's fight against galamsey will amount to nothing unless the kingpins are arrested.

To him, till "one galamsey overlord, one real architect, an actual financier is arrested and prosecuted", burning the excavators belonging to illegal miners will yield no results.

"How come not even one architect behind this galamsey operation has been arrested? To start a galamsey operation, you need millions of Ghana cedis and so the real perpetrators are not those small boys or the youth who are risking their lives," he said in an interview on Peace FM's morning show ''Kokrokoo''.

"Instead of arresting these guys, we should make them an offer for them to lead us to the real kingpins; if we follow the chain, it will lead us to the barons. Unless we get the real perpetrators, we will always come back to square one," he added.

The King of the Ashanti Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II also shared a similar view when the Lands and Natural Resources Minister and his entourage paid a courtesy call on him in Kumasi, Ashanti Region.

He told the gathering that about 30% of them are either involved or knows those involved in galamsey.

Making submissions on Tuesday's edition of 'Kokrokoo' programme, Nana Akomea asked those making such claims to mention the names of the kingpins.

''Everybody talks about kingpins but no one is mentioning specific names . . . So, if we don't have a name, how then can we punish the person?'', he questioned. 

"If you know a name or have evidence of a leader involved in galamsey,  this is the time to reveal it because we have pledged not to protect any person," he charged.