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Dominic Ayine, the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, has revealed that the government will repeal the infamous Legislative Instrument (LI) 2462, which allows mining in forest reserves.
According to the Attorney General, LI 2505 will be laid in Parliament to repeal infamous LI 2462.
Speaking during the stakeholder engagement on illegal mining assembled by President John Dramani Mahama in Accra on Friday, October 3, Dr Ayine stated, “We have prepared an instrument that is LI 2505 in my office, and that will be laid in Parliament on the 14th of October”.
“The Minister and I have agreed that on the 14th of October, when Parliament resumes, we will lay that instrument to revoke the famous LI 2462,” he added.
Also, the Attorney General revealed, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, will face prosecution on Monday, October 6.
He stated, “I am happy to announce that in 2022, the police conducted a very diligent investigation in terms of Akonta Mining, but the dockets were hidden until we came to power.
It was when I came in and began the investigation with the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and the Forestry Commission, we were finding it difficult to get information on the case. It was then that the police themselves owned up and presented that docket to my office two months ago”.
“As we speak, the charges against Chairman Wontumi and Akonta Mining and five others have been signed. Currently, we are waiting for his rights to be read to him, and he has the right to remain silent before he is brought from Kumasi.
“His lawyers asked that he be brought on Tuesday, but I insisted that he be here on Monday. If he does not come on Monday, I am going to order his arrest so that he is brought to Accra and then we can start the prosecution,” Dr. Ayine added.
Meanwhile, Captain Smart, the Host of Onua Maakye on Onua TV, has ordered President John Mahama to dismiss the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, over his failure to oversee the repeal of LI 2462.
According to Captain Smart, if the Attorney General stay in office, the Mahama-led government cannot fight galamsey.
He highlighted that the Attorney General’s shortcomings stem from his history with the controversial LI 2462, which permits mining in forest reserves, which was approved in the 8th Parliament during his tenure as Chairman of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee.
Captain Smart asserted that Dr Dominic Ayine might be excused for his role in the law’s approval because he was in opposition, but nothing prevents him from taking action now as Attorney General.
Speaking on Onua Maakye on Onua TV, Captain Smart stated, “If the law allows mining for gold in our forest reserves. If Dominic Ayine is still in office as Attorney General, that law cannot be repealed. President Mahama must sack him, Your Excellency, sack Dominic Ayine”.
“The NDC used that law as a campaign against the NPP. Dominic Ayine was the chairman of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee; now he is the Attorney General. The document is on his table, and he is using legal language to delay the repeal the L.I. Mahama will come and meet you in this country. Ayine Mahama will come and meet you”.
He added, “If this Attorney General does not go, I swear to God, they can’t fight it. Whoever believes he is a man should come for a bet. Because from the very moment Dominic Ayine sat on the Subsidiary Legislation Committee and changed the wording to enable that law to come into fruition, President Akufo-Addo and Mr Ayisi, the then
Minerals Commission CEO, issued over two thousand small-scale mining licenses in a space of eight months”.
“You have been in government for nine months; why haven’t you repealed that law? When Parliament approved the E-Levy, Ato Forson went back to the same Parliament for its repeal, and he did the same for the Emission Levy,” he said.