Driver beaten to pulp for linking Okyehene to galamsey

Some guards of Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panyin have brutally assaulted a driver for exclaiming about the level of destruction caused by galamsey activities in Kibi.

One of the guards, Kwame Asiedu, an Assembly member and notorious galamsey operator slapped the driver in the full glare of the public during the World Environment Day celebration at Kibi on Monday.

As if that was not enough, Kwame Asiedu accosted the driver at the palace once again after the Programme and without provocation slapped the driver for the second time.

Later, about six men from the palace followed the driver to his vehicle where he was seeking refuge and brutally subjected him to severe beatings.

Speaking to Journalists who witnessed the first incident at the durbar ground, the 48-year old commercial driver, Kofi Minta who was hired by the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council to convey Journalists from Koforidua to the Programme explained that it has been years when he visited Kibi and was amazed over the devastation caused by the illegal miners hence during the delivery of speech by Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori, he exclaimed that ‘this is what galamsey has done to Kibi’.

According to him, he quickly dashed out from the scene but managed to escape his attackers.

The driver said, after the programme, he was asked to come for food and drinks by the Public Relations Officer of the ERCC at the Palace , but Kwame Asiedu upon spotting the driver attacked him again.

Later, some men followed the driver to his vehicle and mercilessly descended on him and beat him to pulp.

The driver who sustained injuries on the head and lips complained of severe headache and tooth pains.

He hinted going to the hospital for medical treatment but was unwilling to report the case to the police.

When contacted, Kwame Asiedu justified that, the driver was assaulted because he connected Okyenhene to galamsey and sort to link him to the level of destruction.