Hundreds of seized galamsey excavators have gone missing at the various assemblies in the country.
There have been agitations over the activities of illegal miners in some parts of the country that have led to the destruction of several water bodies including the Pra, Densu, and Offin rivers.
This led to a temporal ban on the activities of small-scale miners in March 2017 as part of efforts to sanitise the sector and cleanse the water bodies which serve millions of households in Ghana.
Some government appointees said the over 500 missing excavators used for illegal mining have put the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the government in a bad light.
Elvis Morris Donkor, the Member of Parliament for Abura, Asebu, Kwamankese speaking on the development it's an embarrassment to the government over the missing excavators.
But Peter Amewu said the excavators were withdrawn and not seized.
During his vetting at the Appointments Committee, he said "While I was the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, I never seized any excavator. What I did when I was the Minister for that sector was to ask for the withdrawal of excavators from mining sites. About 500 were withdrawn from the sites, but they were not seized."