Illegal miners at Asamama threaten to fight land guards
There is a tension brewing at Asamama in the Atiwa District in the Eastern Region as illegal miners have threatened that they would no longer sit unconcerned for land guards to intimidate them into quitting the work that feeds them.
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According to the miners, they would be compelled to launch reprisal attack on one Yaw Ayebiawhe, a notorious gold dealer and his alleged land guards if authorities in the area did not advise him to desist from attacking them.
"We are all Ghanaians; Ayebiahwe cannot go about intimidating us. We can also afford the pump action gun he and his gang are using. We have money and can even buy a machine gun today.
"We just don't want to spill blood but we can't continue to act as cowards. We don’t have jobs, this is the only job we do to survive and we are not criminals to be attacked with guns", illegal miner, Stephen Amevor told the Daily Graphic.
The paper gathered that last Saturday, Yaw Ayebiawhe led gun-wielding security men on a surprise attack on illegal miners who were mining on the Birim River near his concession at Asamama. He is said to have arrested 14 of them in the raid and handed them over to the police.
The incident has heightened tension and is causing dissatisfaction among the mining community who have vowed to retaliate because "the situation is getting out of control."
Barely a month ago, two people were killed and seven seriously injured in a similar incident.
The Public Affairs Officer of the Eastern Regional Police Command, ASP Yaw Nketia-Yeboah, told the Daily Graphic that the 14 suspects handed over to the police were granted police enquiry bail yesterday and are to assist with further investigations. He said the bail condition was set after they were made to write their statements.
He assured, however, that the police was on top of the issue and that there was no cause for alarm.
According to Mr Amevor, after the deadly clashes that occurred in the community last November, the miners were in the process of conveying their mining equipment from the mine site when Ayebiahwe came to cause the arrest of 14 of their members.
"We are calling on the government to legalise galamsey. Once that is done, we are prepared to abide by laws that will govern its practice. We cannot stop doing this work because we cannot all work in the formal setting, this is what we do to live," he said.
In an interview with Yaw Ayebiawhe, he said he had never threatened the illegal miners but only went to drive them away from his concession and from the Birim River.
"I have a responsibility to protect the Birim River and my concession from the illegal 'chanfan' miners, else the Environmental Protection Agency will hold me accountable because I have an agreement with the state," he said.
