Hot Audio: Galamsey taskforce on revenge mission – Abronye DC

The Brong-Ahafo Youth Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said that recent killing of illegal miners by the anti-galamsey taskforce, Operation Vanguard is a retaliation to the lynching of one of their own, Captain Maxwell Mahama at Denkyira-Obuasi.
According to Kwame Baffoe, it is unprofessional for the taskforce to resort to killing innocent miners and burning mining equipment in the bid to halt illegal mining.
Describing the situation as worrying, Kwame Baffoe popularly known as Abronye DC called on the various stakeholders to draw a distinction between small-scale mining and illegal mining.
According to him, the soldiers involved in the operations, are exhibiting high-handedness alleging that they are overstepping their bounds and engaging in lawlessness.
“I think the galamsey taskforce are only going on this mission for revenge against Major Mahama’s death. The soldiers are already angry and are retaliating what has meted out to one of them two months ago at Denkyira-Boase and that is why they are killing some of the miners and burning down their equipment” he cried on Accra based Okay fm.
The government’s anti-illegal mining task-force, Operation Vanguard has been defending the reason why it set the equipment belonging to some illegal miners on fire.
The taskforce has come under intense backlash for burning the excavators, instead of putting them to some purposeful use.
The anti-galamsey taskforce comprising of the Military and the Police have also denied reports that they have killed some four miners at Kwaben near Anyinam in the Atiwa Denkyira District of the Eastern region.
Four lifeless bodies of illegal miners were found at Kwaben near Anyinam in the Atiwa Denkyira district.
Reports on several news portals suggested that the four were gunned down by the taskforce that has been charged to assist in the fight to arrest illegal mining in the country.
But reacting to the issue, the Maverick Brong Ahafo Regional Youth Organiser stated that government is responsible for the actions of the members of Operation Vanguard, including the acts of setting fire to mining equipment.
“We rose up against the burning down of Wontumi’s mining equipment and we must not also allow this to fester on. We need to wholly criticize it because it is not right. I am told some of the equipment were parked but they stormed the town and set fire on them.
“Though we can’t also state authentically that these taskforce indeed killed the miners, I believe they have over stepping their boundaries” she stressed.
The anti-galamsey task force were deployed last week to various parts of the country where illegal mining hotspots were located.
The moves marks part of phase two of the government’s crackdown on the mining activity has caused damage to country’s natural resources.
This notwithstanding, Abronye DC stressed that the NPP government will not relent on its fight to stop illegal mining also known as galamsey.
Listen to Abronye