The Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has turned down a request by the Alliance For Social Equity And Public Accountability (ASEPA) to investigate alleged thievery and corruption on the part of state officials in the fight against illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.
ASEPA is a pro National Democratic Congress +NDC) propaganda machinery claiming to be a pressure group.
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It had petitioned the Special Prosecutor on February 18, 2020.
But in a letter dated February 24, 2020 in response to the petition from ASEPA, Mr. Amidu stated emphatically that “the Criminal Investigations Division of the Ghana Police Service had already commenced investigations into the matters referred to in your letter long before you submitted your letter to this Office.”
He said in the letter that “in those circumstances, it would not have been in the best interest of safeguarding the public purse for this Office to refer to its Investigation Division the same matters for investigation concurrently even if your complaint fell within the mandate of this Office.”
According to his letter, “a review of your letter of complaint, however, has led this Office to the conclusion that the facts and conjectures upon which you underpin your complaint do not raise any issues of corruption and corruption-related offences as narrowly defined under section 79 of the Office of Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) to warrant any investigation by this Office.”
Some six persons were arrested recently over alleged missing galamsey excavators and equipment.
BY Melvin Tarlue
