The speaker of the Western Bahr el Ghazal State Legislative Assembly has formed a committee to investigate the alleged illegal mining of gold in Raga County’s Boro-Madina area.

Speaker Muhamaden Abubakar Muhamaden told Radio Tamazuj Wednesday that the committee will soon travel to Raga County on a fact-finding mission.

Two weeks ago, the state assembly again summoned Raga County Commissioner Addison Arakangelo over his alleged involvement in illegal gold mining in Boro Madina. Last week, the assembly confined the embattled commissioner to Wau and recommended the formation of an investigation committee.

According to the speaker, the committee is comprised of members from the different parties in the assembly and is headed by SPLM’s Khamis Omer Dayia.

“One of our roles is to monitor the resources of the country. We received complaints from the communities in Raga, especially from Boro-Madina, that there are about 10,000 people from Sudan who are mining gold there,” Muhamaden said. “Any illegal mining is not accepted and the committee has already been formed by me and the estimated budget for their travel has been submitted to the acting governor. Today (Wednesday), I had a meeting with them and soon they are going to travel and will be supported by the organized forces.”

The speaker urged the members of the committee to be impartial and transparent in their work.

“My message to my people going there is that I want them to be fair and not to support the assembly and not be against the commissioner,” Muhamaden counseled. “They should report back the truth of what they find there.”

Source: Radio Tamazuj