Issah Alhassan
9 July 2009
Kumasi — THE TOWNSHIP of Konongo in the Asante Akyem North District of the Ashanti Region was reportedly thrown into a state of anarchy yesterday morning, when some angry galamsey operators clashed with a joint military/police patrol team, resulting in the injuring of several people.
A fully-armed military/police team, deployed to maintain peace and order at a mining site located at Konongo, allegedly fired several shots into the irate youth, who were protesting against the decision to ban them from carrying out their small mining activities at the mining site believed to have been acquired by a businessman in the town.
The security personnel, who were supposedly dispatched to secure the area, which was hitherto occupied by the illegal miners, allegedly could not help but open fire on the angry youth, who had stormed the area with cutlasses and other weapons to register their protest against the decision to deny them their means of livelihood.
Several people who were alleged to have sustained various degrees of injuries during the bloody clash, which occurred around 9:00 am, were rushed to the Konongo Government Hospital for treatment.
About 12 persons were said to have been arrested by the police and were currently being held at the Konongo Divisional Police Station, assisting the police in their investigations.
Investigations revealed that the late Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, who was also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, negotiated with the concessionaire, who agreed to allocate part of his concession to the youth in the community, to enable them embark on small scale mining activities as a source of income.
The youth, according to reports, were said to have trespassed the place allocated to them, and had entered into other parts belonging to the businessman, a development which the businessman was said to have been displeased with, and reported the matter to the Konongo Police.
Meanwhile, the Konongo Divisional Police Commander, Supt. Afriyie Sakyi, has confirmed the arrest of the 12 suspects, but denied that there was a clash between the joint military/police team and the galamsey operators.
Narrating the incident to the paper in a telephone interview, Supt. Sakyi said he deployed some of his men to the mining site last week Saturday, after he received reports that the concession had been invaded by some youth of the community.
He said even though he assumed duty a few weeks ago, information he had received indicated that the land had been legally acquired by the concessionaire, who had since 2001 been paying royalties to the government, so he urged his men to go to the site and drive them away.
The Police Commander said his men managed to chase the youth, numbering over 60, out of the concession, but the illegal miners, who were bent on operating on the land, made another invasion yesterday morning, this time around wielding cutlasses and other weapons.
He said the situation compelled him to call for military/police reinforcement from Kumasi, which came and restored order, leading to the arrest of 12 suspects who are currently being detained in police cells.
He denied that there was a shoot-out between the security personnel and the galamsey operators, as was initially speculated.
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