Former New Juaben North Constituency Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Boateng-Agyemang, has lashed out at the party’s former National Chairman, Freddie Blay, over his involvement in the case of four foreign nationals facing trial for illegal mining activities.
Three Chinese nationals and a Vietnamese national are facing trial in Accra High Court as accomplices of alleged galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang.
During the trial on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, Lucy Ekeleba Blay announced in court that she was holding brief as counsel for the defence in the place of the former NPP National Chairman.
This has led to widespread criticism over the decision of Freddie Blay to represent the accused persons in the face of the government’s fight against galamsey.
Sharing such sentiments on Top FM’s Final Point hosted by Kwabena Owusu Agyemeng, the former constituency chairman accused Freddie Blay of making a mockery of the government’s fight against galamsey.
He thus called on Freddie Blay to render an apology for his actions and withdraw his services as counsel for the accused persons charged with engaging in illegal small-scale mining.
“How many people have had the opportunity of being a national chairman? And the benefits that you have got from the NPP as a party; from parliament as a second deputy speaker, as first deputy speaker and as a national chairman. God has been faithful to you. If he is listening to me now by tomorrow morning, he and his partners must issue a statement to apologise and withdraw from the case,” he said.
He emphasised that the fight against galamsey is a collective fight which requires every official to play a role and not be left to only the president to deal with.
“We need to address issues right; leadership is not only the presidency. Everyone has a role to play, so if we focus our expectations on one person, we have failed. That is why I allude that fighting galamsey is like fighting drug barons trading in cocaine,” he added.
Gao Jin Cheng, Lu Qi Jun, Haibin Go, and Zhang Zhipeng have been charged as accomplices of Aisha Huang who is also facing charges in a separate trial on galamsey charges.
However, for some critics, the former NPP national chairman’s representation of the accused persons is a decision that lacks discretion considering the fight against galamsey and its impact on Ghana’s water and forest bodies.