Akyem Saamang Residents Flee Town

...After Military Brutality “We can no longer stand the pain of maltreatment from the military personnel hired by Solar Mining Company to constantly terrorize us in our houses and farms, so we have to leave the community for our safety,” an indigene of the community has stated to Today.

According to residents, they could not fathom why they should be living in a state of anxiety in their ancestral home and endure molestation from a combined team of police and military personnel accompanied by security men from Solar Mining Company Limited in the area.

“See the likes of Kwadwo Oppong, Kwadwo Panin, Yaw Asiedu Gyawa, Afia Amponsah Adwoa Ketewa and Ama Esther [who are currently receiving medical treatment at the Koforidua Central Hospital] were all shot by these people and you expect me to stay in the community,” a female resident recounted in a saddened mood.

The situation, Today was informed, has been fueled by the constant struggle of the residents, particularly farmers in the area to prevent Solar Mining from destroying forest and farm crops and other form of properties.

The struggle has led the combined team and workers of the mining company, which on most occasions are armed to the teeth, to take the law into their own hands and severely beat up and shoot scores of residents.

One incident is what transpired on Thursday July 12, 2012, which has raised questions about the commitment of the security apparatus dispatched to the area to ensure peace, as they have been accused of only patrolling the streets to the neglect of the main communities.

Narrating the incident to Today, one of the opinion leaders of Saamang, Mr. Daniel K. Gyasi and the Assemblyman for Saamang, Mr. Gyeatuo Kyenkyenku, lamented that about 8:30 A.M on that fateful date, two carpenters namely Kwadwo Quartey and Wofa Atta were suddenly stopped on the streets of Saamang and beaten up together with other residents.

“They were attacked on the grounds that they suspected the two carpenters have been harbouring plans against the Managing Director of Solar Mining Company, Mr. Samuel Atta for his recent 'inhuman behaviour' which saw to the destruction of forest and farm crops and other forms of properties belonging to cocoa farmers; namely Comfort Adu, Esther Osei Obeng, Grace and Christiana Agyabeny,” the gentlemen stated.**