NPP Women’s Organizers 8 Galamsey Excavators Burnt By Taskforce

Eight heavy-duty earth-moving machines that had reportedly been deployed at an illegal mining site belonging to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP)’s National Women Organizer, Kate Gyamfuah, have been burnt to ashes.

Members of the national anti-illegal mining task force are said to have stormed the site located near a river at Akyem Akropong in the Atewa West District, seized all hardware, including the 8 excavators and set them on fire.

The revelation that the alleged galamsey site belongs to the NPP’s National Women’s Organizer was made by one of the workers on duty at the time of the invasion by the anti-galamsey taskforce.

In an interview with journalists, he also gave an inventory of all the machinery that had been torched.

“We were here when we saw the military storm the site. We took them around and told them we are legal small-scale mining that the site belongs to NPP National Women’s Organizer Kate Gyamfua. We showed them how we are mining using recycle water without disturbing the river. But they didn’t listen they have burnt the excavators. I am so worried that they can do this to a whole Kate Gyamfua,” the worker said.

According to him, “this is not a galamsey site. We use our dam to wash the gold. They burnt 8 excavators, a dozer here, and about 20 pumping machines. The excavators include four brand new ones.”

He adds that the four brand new excavators cost US$120,000 each to buy. 

“Kate Gyamfua supported the NPP Party with huge amounts so why treat her like this. We have nothing to tell Nana Addo,” he lamented.

The Akufo-Addo government has been failing at the fight against illegal mining since 2017 when a war on galamsey was declared. This is chiefly because members of the government and the ruling party are the ones deeply involved in the current gold rush that is destroying the environment in Ghana.

Following his controversial re-election, the President decided to reboot the anti-galamsey campaign scrapping the existing Inter-Ministerial Committee against illegal mining who had been a monumental failure and replacing it with a new taskforce made up of the Military.

However, the deep involvement of government people in the gold rush means that the new taskforce is also heavily encumbered.

Last week, when a program was held in the Ashanti Region on illegal mining, the Overlord of Ashanti, Otumfuor Osei Tutu ll revealed that he had been given a written speech and importuned by Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Minister of Lands and another from the Ashanti Region to stick to frothy speech.

However, Otumfuor refused to be gagged, accusing the audience of the program of consisting of at least 30% of guilty people who had their podgy fingers in the galamsey pie.

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