The military task force set up by the government to combat illicit mining in the Eastern Region has set fire to at least twenty excavators and a variety of other mining machinery.
Kate Gyamfua, the governing New Patriotic Party’s (NPPNational )’s Women’s Organizer, is said to own eight of the excavators and one dozer that were lost.
On Sunday, the taskforce raided several mining sites in the Atiwa district’s Larbikrom, Dompem, and Pamen.
The taskforce could not spare the dozer, which had been employed to clear deteriorated acres of forest.
After fielding calls from multiple sources, the task force spent many hours at the mining site of the women’s chief. They did, though, finally light the devices on fire.
According to several people who claim to work at the NPP women’s organizer’s place, the squad assaulted some of the staff and stole alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks from a refrigerator.
Four excavators, including two brand new ones worth $120,000 each, were set ablaze at Akyem Larbikrom and Dompem. There were dozens of water pumping equipment lost.
Pump action weapons used by private security officers charged with protecting mining sites were reportedly taken away by the unit.
Nana Asante, the secretary to Kate Gyamfua’s mining company, shared dissatisfaction with the administration.
According to him, the taskforce should have taken into account Kate Gyamfua’s commitments to the group and reconsidered its behavior.
He went on to say that they had followed all mining rules, including the reclamation of polluted soil.
“We’ve begun reclaiming the field and have cultivated cassava on it. We have never touched a river; instead, we have dug dams and used the water to wash our clothes. We haven’t violated any laws, but we’re baffled as to why they’d come to kill her machines,” he bemoaned.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Hussein Suronim, a founder of the Eastern region’s Small Scale Miners Group, criticized the military task force’s behavior.
He clarified that the citizens impacted are not unauthorized miners, but rather licensed small-scale miners who followed all mining regulations.
Source: myjoyonline
