Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has responded to former president John Dramani Mahama's recent accusation of corruption on the part of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The said allegation was contained in a Facebook post Mahama authored in the wake of Akufo-Addo's statement at an event in Koforidua that Akonta Mining Limited was not engaged in galamsey (illegal small-scale mining) anywhere in the country at the time he was speaking.

The comoany is owned by Ashanti Regional chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Chairman Wontumi, real name Bernard Antwi Boasiako.

"It is unacceptable that President Nana Akufo-Addo has consistently put pressure on state anti-corruption institutions by announcing clearance of appointees and companies that are under investigation for wrongdoing," Mahama said.

Mahama added that the actions and words of Akufo-Addo were inimical to the fight against corruption in Ghana.

In his response to Mahama, Jinapor stressed that Akufo-Addo's six-year record in fighting corruption was better that the eight years of the Mills / Mahama administration (2013 - 2017).

"Permit me to assert, without a shred of equivocation that the record of President Akufo-Addo’s Government in the past six years of fighting corruption far surpasses the NDC’s eight-year record."

He defended his view by stressing thus: "Needless to point out that President Akufo-Addo’s extraordinary funding of anti-corruption institutions, the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, which as I speak, is investigating this matter...

"... the passage of the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989), rapid investigations of allegations of corruption, and many more are testament to his remarkable record in the fight against corruption."

The minister also reiterated that the Akonta Mining probe was still ongoing with the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) seized with the matter.

Source: Ghanaweb