Nana Boakye Darkwa, the Benkumhene of Asamang-Tamfoe in the Eastern Region who was reportedly dismissed by the Okyeman Judicial Council headed by the Okyenhene has refuted the charge of illegal small-scale mining over which he was reportedly removed.
He stated in an interview on Citi FM (November 23) that it was rather his strong stance against galamsey that had resulted in people around the Okyenhene scheming to have him removed so that they can pursue their parochial agenda.
“I am not a galamseyer and I have never been involved in any galamsey and he knows. You (Judicial Council) invite me and the agenda is to come and speak about galamsey and siphoning the community’s money.
“When I get there, you throw all these things to the jargon and ask me why did I do the press conference. Those who came to the town firing indiscriminately like Boko Haram, where are they, have they been cautioned? Where are those people?” Nana Boakye Darkwa questioned.
The press conference in question is one that he held weeks back after members of the Okyeman anti-galamsey task force who has ostensibly gone to his jurisdiction to combat the scourge clashed with some indigenes.
He accused members of the task force of heavy-handedness yet sought to scapegoat him. “They have been shielded so they are looking for a scapegoat, that is me. They have failed.
“They think they can disgrace me, they are disgracing themselves…. They are looking for land here to mine and I have resisted it so they are looking for my removal so that they can get the chance to come and mine here and I will never allow them to come and mine here,” he stressed.
“I have said it time and time again. I have been a thorn in their flesh, so they are looking for a way to take me out so that they can get a chance to come and mine. That is it, period.”
He also mentioned two allies of the Okyenhene, who he claimed were into galamsey activities. “One man called Dabehene of Kyebi and his cousin called Owuraku. I have mentioned their names several times… I am not afraid of them, I have mentioned their names all over.”
The embattled chief also insists he remains at post despite reports that he had been destooled on the orders of the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin.
“I have not been destooled. It is a false propaganda by the State Secretary and Okyeman and the Okyenhene himself,” he said in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM.
He explained further that his position on the purported dismissal was anchored on the fact that he did not swear an oath before the OKyenhene and thus, his removal did not lie with the Okyenhene but rather his boss, Osabarima Kwame Ko II, who happens to be a sub-chief of the Okyenhene.
“I don’t swear an oath to the Okyenhene, I swore the oath to my chief, Osabarima Kwame Ko, and the tradition is like ‘who hires, who fires.’ I didn’t swear an oath or any undertaking to the Okyenhene’s palace, I swore an oath to my chief,” he added.
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Galamsey has ruined water bodies and farmlands across the country