Burning of NPP bigwig Kate Gyamfua’s excavators: What we know so far

• Excavators belonging to Kate Gyamfua's Xtra Gold Mining Company have been burnt by the anti-galamsey taskforce

• The company is threatening court action against the state over the burning of the excavators

• GhanaWeb highlights the key issues leading to the burning of the excavators and the various reactions

To members of the opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC, in the Eastern Region, the burning of some excavators belonging to a mining company owned by the National Women’s Organizer of the New Patriotic Party, Kate Gyamfua was more an act of vindictiveness than a genuine effort to stamp out ilicit small scale mining popularly referred to as galamsey.

This assertion is borne out of events that preceded the burning of the excavators. With a lawsuit pending, it is expected that more actions will unfold regarding the burnt excavators but for now, GhanaWeb brings you a timeline of events leading to the burning of the excavators.

Kate Gyamfua fires Roads Minister on April 26, 2021

In one of those rare occasions in Ghana politics, a national executive was captured on audio attacking the work of her fellow party member serving as Minister for Roads and Highways.

Kate Gyamfua said in the said audio that instead of being a Roads Minister for the entire country, Kwasi Amoako-Atta was only focused on his hometown.

“Tell Amoako Atta that he was not made Roads and Highways Minister because of roads in his constituency. Look at the number of world-class roads Amoako Attah is constructing in his hometown – Kwabeng and other communities.

"What have we done wrong in Akwatia and its environs to deserve these bad roads? If you are made road Minister, you must also look at other places to construct the roads,” she said on Akyem Oda-based Ahenkan FM.

She added: "I decided to use the Kwabeng road to Akwatia on my return from Kumasi. I was amazed by the road constructed from Anyinam junction to Kwabeng.

"They were even doing another asphalt overlay on it. I picked the phone to tell Amoako Atta that God will punish him if he doesn’t construct our roads in Denkyembuor”.

Atewa Youth orders Gyamfuah to apologise on April 28, 2021

Barely forty-eight hours after reports were filed on the allegations made by Kate Gyamfuah, a group calling itself Concerned Youth of Atiwa West challenged Kate Gyamfuah to apologise else they were going to expose her alleged illegal mining activities.

“Madam Kate Gyamfua has over the past ten years been mining in the Atiwa enclave and as at today holds the biggest mining concession in the constituency, and with this can she happily point to any project a community within the constituency has benefitted from her mining company?

“The only benefit that Atiwa West Constituency has received from her mining services was the shooting of a 15-year-old JHS 3 pupil by the company’s security officer and the mysterious death of a young man at your site.

"It will interest you to know that in 2020 when the deadly coronavirus pumped its ugly head out, in its quest to help curb the spread of the disease in the district, the district health administration in conjunction with the district health committee requested for assistance from her mining company, don’t be surprised that after a year no response has been heard from them.”

Kate Gyamfua debunks content of audio on April 28, 2021

Kate Gyamfua issued a statement, distancing herself from the content of the leaked audio and praised Amoako Atta.

She described him as a hardworking minister who should be encouraged to do his best for the country.

"I hereby state categorically and unequivocally, that such a statement could not have come from me, and could only be a doctored tape by my detractors to achieve their malicious intentions and tarnish my hard-won reputation...

"I hereby entreat all well-meaning Ghanaians, to treat the said tape with all the contempt it deserves, and see it as empty and malicious, with the sole aim of causing my downfall," she stressed in a statement.

'Operation Halt’ operatives burn 16 excavators belonging to Gyamfua’s mining firm

It seemed like that the statement from Kate Gyamfua had put the issue to bed until Monday, May 17, 2021, when it emerged that excavators belonging to Xtra Gold Mining company which has Kate Gyamfua as General Manager have been set ablaze by soldiers in the new anti-galamsey operation.

Earlier reports mentioned eight as the number of excavators burnt but a statement from the company clarified that the burnt excavators were sixteen.

Statement from Eastern Region NDC

One of the events triggered by the burning of the excavators is a statement from the Eastern Regional NDC alleging that there was no wrongdoing on the part of Xtra Gold Mining Company and that the excavators were burnt on the order of the Roads Minister.

A statement issued by Mr Darlas Ampomah Williams, Regional Communications Officer of the NDC on Monday, 17 May 2021, said the action of the anti-galamsey force in the case of Ms Gyamfua’s company, is a proxy personal vendetta for publicly calling out the Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwesi Amoako-Atta, who also happens to be the MP for the Atiwa West Constituency, for discrimination in fixing roads in the region.

“It is public knowledge how Ms Kate Gyamfua has bemoaned the horrible state of other roads in the Eastern Region apart from the hometowns of the President and his cousin, the Roads Minister, and personally called him out to act without discrimination,” the statement said.

“This is a few weeks before her company's equipment was burnt down,” the NDC observed.

While we may not be interested in such petty internal squabbles, we are concerned that a similar pattern that led to the failure of the initial Operation Vanguard is unfolding.”

Xtra Gold Mining company dismisses allegations

In the late hours of Monday, May 17, 2021, Xtra Gold Mining Company issued a statement disclosing their disappointment with the conduct of the anti-galamsey taskforce and affirming their position as a legitimate mining company registered with relevant authorities to conduct their activities.

The company disclosed that it will seek redress in court as the actions of the anti-galamsey taskforce constituted a breach of law.

“These unlawful actions are a clear violation of the rule of law. Our company pays big money royalties, taxes, stool land fees. We are socially responsible, and employ hundreds of local workers. At the same time that we are paying all these huge taxes, the military is burning millions of dollars of our mining equipment,” the company bemoaned.