Lands Minister Samuel Jinapor says past and current government officials engaging in illegal mining activities must be exposed.

He stated that if there is evidence against such persons, they should not be favoured but must be imprisoned.

It had been alleged that Chinese galamsey queen, Aisha Yuan, has been blackmailing powerful politically-connected individuals with sex tapes as part of her galamsey agenda.

But Mr Jinapor believes such claims should not be entertained, adding that anyone with details of such tapes should dig them out.

“If there is any Minister in President Akufo-Addo’s government or John Mahama’s government who has gone to trade sex with galamsey, that person should not be sitting under air-conditioner, that person should be in Nsawam,” he told journalists in Accra.

He contended that gossip about government officials who are allegedly engaging in galamsey cannot be accepted because the government is focused on fighting the illegal mining menace.

“You have to bring them out…when these things come out, you have to expose them. We cannot continue to be in the realm of gossip especially when we are trying to have serious government architecture.

“If a Chinese lady claims she has a sex tape of ministers or deputy ministers, the minute after that allegation is made those tapes should be out there. People like you should go and dig them out,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, the Chinese illegal miner, Aisha Huang, will reappear in court on September 27 after she was accused of engaging in galamsey without a licence following her re-arrest in Ghana weeks ago.

She was deported in 2018 over a similar incident.

Though the nature of her exit is still being debated, the Attorney General has already communicated his commitment to see the prosecution through.

Minister meets mining leaders

The Lands and Natural Resources Minister is scheduled to meet heads of the world’s giant mining firms in New York later this week.

This is part of efforts to increase investment in Ghana’s mining sector and make Ghana a mining hub.