Illegal miners in Tarkwa promise to show MP 'pepper' for planning to stop galamsey

Illegal miners in Tarkwa-Breman in the Prestea Huni-Valley of the Western Region have said they will teach their Member of Parliament (MP), Barbara Oteng Gyasi a bitter lesson in the next general election for neglecting them.

The miners expressed disgust at the first-time MP and Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources for duping them and lying straight to their faces before the 2016 General election.

They said, "before the 2016 general election, the then opposition New Patriotic Party assured us that when it assumed the reins of government, it would encourage mining, hence we the youth in the area voted massively for the MP and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo".

The miners expressed their anger when the Sector Minister, Mr John Peter Amewu, led a team to visit some mining sites in the Western Region on Sunday.

The visit followed the expiration of the three-week ultimatum the Minister gave to all illegal miners to evacuate their equipment and leave mining sites.

Since Tarkwa is a mining area, 90 per cent of the youth in the town are engaged in galamsey which they use to take care of their families and to them that’s the only source of income they are willing to engage in.