The Ghana Police Service has assured it will continue to fight illegal mining (galamsey) in the country whether it involved foreigners or Ghanaians.
The Police say it is true some Chinese nationals are involved in illegal mining in the country but nothing will influence the administration in fighting them.
The Public Affairs Director of the Police Administration, Superintendent Cephas Arthur, gave the assurance in an interview with Onua News on Tuesday.
The PRO was reacting to calls by Ghanaians for the police administration to return an amount of GH¢50,000 donated by the Chairman of the Ghana Association of Chinese Societies and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CAITEC Group, Tang Hong to the Police administration in support of the construction of the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS) Headquarters at the Nima Police Station.
Barely 24-hours after the police received the donation; some environmentalists who are leading the crusade against illegal mining are questioning the moral justification in accepting such an amount when these Chinese have wrecked havoc to the environment literally polluting water bodies in areas where galamsey is pronounced.
They are therefore calling on the police administration to return the amount because in could influence them in their quest to fight against illegal mining involving these Chinese in Ghana.
But reacting to the issue, Supt. Cephas Arthur explained that Mr. Tang Hong is not a miner neither is he an illegal miner.
He added that CAITEC Group deals in sale of mining equipment and that does not make his activities illegal in the country because he has the permit to sell those items.
Supt. Arthur said during the cutting of the sod for the construction of PIPS head office, the police administration made an appeal for private companies and individuals to come to their aid to be able to construct the office so the CAITEC CEO also gave a promise.
“So he redeemed the pledge on Monday”, he added.
The Police PRO explained that “If you do mining without permit that is a crime but if they sell mining machines and you have the permit, it is not illegal but people want to skew it as if the man is into illegal mining”.
“He is not into illegal mining but he sells mining equipments. If he sells excavators and has permit, it is not illegal; selling the equipment does not mean someone should come and buy and use it for illegal mining”, he explained.
Supt Arthur assured that “it is never true the donation will influence us. There is no problem and we will not return the money”.
But the former Executive Secretary of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Vitus Azeem, disagrees with the police.
He said “we cannot be sure he is not into galamsey. He cannot be directly involved in galamsey but he can be buying the gold after they are mined”.
He explained that “they should give them back the money because as an institution, there is the possibility that they can be influenced. They should listen to what Ghanaians are saying and return the money”.
Mr. Azeem directed the environmentalists to “petition the Police Council over the money”.
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