Some small-scale miners are fingering two national executives of the National Democratic Congress for allegedly fueling fake anti-galamsey taskforces to invade legitimate mining sites in the Ashanti and Western Regions.
The rogue taskforces are alleged to have invaded mining sites in Sekondi, Bekwai, Offinso, Prestea, among other areas.
According to the leader of the aggrieved miners, Andrew Abban, the taskforce members invade the sites in camouflage, armed with guns and other weapons.
“More worryingly, these assigns carry sophisticated weapons in full military uniforms, ransack the sites of our members and subject them to inhuman treatment including extortion of money,” he said.
Some executives of the National Democratic Congress have been named as persons assigning the rogue taskforces.
“We have information that these operatives use the names of some National Democratic Congress executives to extort monies. Common names that are mentioned by these parallel taskforce assigns have been Joseph Yamin, the National Organiser of the NDC and Yakubu Abanga, 3rd Vice-Chairperson of the NDC and others”, Mr. Abban emphasized.
The named national executives have, however, denied any involvement in such activities.
NDC National Organiser, Joseph Yamin, and third National Vice-Chairperson of the party, Yakubu Abanga, have disowned these groupings, claiming this could be influence peddling.
“For the record I am not part of any galamsey taskforce, neither have I been invited to even share ideas as to how to fight these illegal mining activities of some of these small scale miners,” said Mr. Yamin.
“If there’s any taskforce parading around with my name the said group is operating illegally and must be resisted from their operations. The work of the taskforce is strictly enforced by the state security and not party directives,” he added.
Yakubu Abanga has also denied the allegation. “Let me place it on record, without ambiguity: I have absolutely no hand in, and I know nothing about these allegations. I challenge anyone who claims otherwise to be bold and point to me directly. If I have ever extorted money from any miner or seized any equipment, let them mention my name publicly.”
He added that “their intent is to tarnish my hard-earned reputation, and we condemn it outright.”
The small-scale miners say the activities of rogue taskforces are negatively affecting their operations, with some of them incurring losses.
They are calling on the government to take action to halt such operations, indicating the need for the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources to intensify efforts to streamline the galamsey fight.
