A group of small-scale miners in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region have implicated the constituency Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Samuel Akainyah popularly known as Atito in their galamsey activities.
According to the miners, the NPP Chairman and his constituency secretary, Mr John Nwolley have greater share in the proceeds from their galamsey enterprise under the guise of giving them the required backing and protection to perpetuate their galamsey activities.
A miner, Mr. Kofi Akapoo, flanked by the Western Regional Chairman of Small-Scale Mining Association, Mr. Daniel Kaku Mensah and other miners, told a news conference at Anwia in the Ellembelle District.
According to him, following a tip-off, the District Chief Executive (DCE) led the District Police Command to arrest the miners on Wednesday, March 18, 2020.
He said since the seven mining groups entered into a contract of GHc10,000 every two weeks with Chairman Akainyah, they petitioned his office to intervene to bail them out of cells but he turned his back on them.
Mr. Akapoo was categorical that the miners have signed a community mining document with Chairman Akainyah but have not signed any document with the DCE.
Mr. Akapoo wondered why Chairman Akainyah had not been able to streamline their operations to move away from galamsey to Community Mining after collecting Ghc140,000.00 from the seven groups of miners since they started the galamsey operations in October 2019.
Mr. Akapo dismissed the rumour that the DCE collected GHc10,000 each from the 7 groups upon seizure of their excavators at the galamsey sites.
He defended that the DCE had never collected a pesewa from the Miners.
"Even when we tried to compensate the DCE with money, he turned the amount down and cautioned us to stay away from galamsey".he revealed.
In an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb's Western Regional Correspondent Daniel Kaku, the Chairman of the National Small Scale Mining Association, Mr. Napoleon Tandoh who guaranteed bail to the arrested Miners said after petitioning the DCE and the District Command, the miners have been given one month for the filling and reclamation of the degraded land.
He commended the DCE for making a bulldozer available to fill the galamsey pits and an excavator to reconstruct all choked river bodies which happen to be the source of drinking water to three communities namely: Anwia, Teleku-Bokazo and Nkroful.
Mr. Tandoh thanked Hon. Kwasi Bonzoh and the Police Commander for granting them bail.
He, on behalf of other miners, thanked the DCE for giving the Miners the assurance to roll out the Community Mining project in the District which is expected to employ about 10,000 workers.
The Western Regional Chairman of the Small Scale Miners Association, Mr. Daniel Kaku Mensah condemned the act of Chairman Akainyah for giving a false hope to the miners to streamline their operations to secure a Community Mining license for them to continue with the mining.
