Galamseyers on warpath; invoke curses on government, others

Hundreds of angry residents, mostly illegal small scale miners at Kwameniapa in Prestea Huni Valley District of the Western Region, have invoked curses of river deities on the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and security personnel for ‘collapsing their mining business.’

The miners, who took to the three main roundabouts in Prestea township on Friday, September 1, 2017 used items including coffins, eggs, pieces of red cloth, white fowls and schnapps to rain curses on the government and its anti-galamsey task force—Operation Vanguard—for ‘destroying’ their mining equipment and properties at Kwameniapa on August 28, 2017.

The action by the miners happened last week Friday after the anti-galamsey task force (Operation Vanguard) stormed mining sites at Kwameniapa and allegedly destroyed mining machines and properties belonging to the miners on August 28, 2017.

What even irked the miners were promises by some of the security personnel, politicians and elders of the district to protect their mining equipment after they had collected huge sums of money from them [the miners].

The livid miners branded all these promises as empty, following the ransacking of their mining sites by the Vanguard Operation team.

Speaking in an interview with Today at the weekend, some of the affected galamseyers complained that over a period of time they have been paying monies to some top government officials and national security officers in the area with the hope that they will ensure the protection of their mining equipment and sites.

But, according to the miners, these individuals have reneged on their promises, a situation which left them with no option than to invoke curses upon them.

At the scene, reports indicate that the angry miners chanted war songs and threatened to vote out the NPP government in the 2020 election, if it does not stop its ‘stop galamsey campaign.’

They accused the Akufo-Addo government of deceiving them in the run-up to the 2016 election.

According to them, then candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who promised to streamline illegal mining activities when voted into office, has rather done the opposite — banned the activity after winning the polls.

The miners told Today that the only job they are used to, since birth, was mining and that should not be taken away from them.

“We are not able to cater for our children and families and we do not have any other work to do apart from the galamsey,” they complained.