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Leader of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and CEO for Groupe Nduom, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom has reacted to claims by the China Mission in Ghana that relationships between the two nations might grow weak if Ghana continues to churn out stories that Chinese leaders support the galamsey activities of their citizens in the country.

In a letter sent to the ministry of lands and natural resources, the China Mission in Ghana called on government to take action to guide the media from trumpeting claims that Chinese leaders support illegal mining in Ghana.

"The Chinese government attaches great importance to the illegal mining issue. The position of the Chinese government on this issue is consistent and clear-cut. The Chinese is firmly opposed to the involvement of Chinese citizens in illegal mining in Ghana and supports the efforts taken by the Ghanaian government to tackle the illegal mining issue within the legal framework.

"We sincerely hope that the Ghanaian government shall take responsibility of guiding the media and requesting them not to publicise such defamatory reports or stories against Chinese leaders, officials and the Chinese government. This will help create a sound environment for our joint efforts to address this issue and the continuous development of our bilateral relations," the letter said.

But speaking on ATV’s Ghana Great and Strong show, the PPP leader rubbished the content of the letter and highlighted the grave damaged Chinese illegal miners have done to our water bodies and lands.

Dr. Nduom was worried about the sophisticated weapons some of these illegal miners carried around to intimidate concerned citizens who opposed their nefarious activity.

“There are so many security forces in Ghana but foreigners still have the guts to gallivant around freely with weapons which are against the laws of the country”, he said.

The business magnate continued that “we must be bold enough to say if this is against the law, we must stop it and find better ways of doing what we need to do. Mining requires license therefore no one is expected to mine without license. If we believe that there is something important and people are doing them in a wrong way, we must instruct them”, he stated.

“If we have this huge issue which was allowed to grow by the past administration, the Nana Akufo Addo led government has all the power now to lead the Ghana armed force to fight against this galamsey issue”, he added.