Police warns against acts of lawlessness

Police Superintendent Kwesi Ofori, Deputy Director of the Community Policing Department, has warned against acts of lawlessness, saying due processes must always be followed to get grievances resolved.

He described as completely unacceptable and out of place for anybody to take the law into his or her own hands.

He was speaking at a meeting with the chiefs and people of Manso-Mim and other nearby communities in the Amansie-West District, to calm tension in the area following recent violent clashes between some Chinese illegal gold miners and the youth.

The people have been protesting the destruction of their food and cash crops, farmlands and water sources through the mining operations.

The meeting provided the platform to also identify the local security challenges and discuss solutions to these.

Superintendent Ofori gave the assurance that they would do everything to ensure that only those with licenses carried out mining in the area.

The Deputy Ashanti Regional Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police, (ACP) Mensah Duku gave the assurance that the Chinese arrested during the disturbances would be brought to justice, if found to have breached the law.

He said the Police would make sure that foreign immigrants worked within the confines of the country’s laws.

The Regional Commander said they would also engage the mineral and lands commissions and the immigration service to find ways of tackling the growing involvement of foreigners in illegal mining.

The people complained about the dangers posed by deep uncovered pits left by the illegal miners, pollution of their water sources, ravaging of their farms and lands, and called on the regulatory bodies to see to it that the proper things were done.

They said there was the need for effective monitoring to stop the miners from degrading the environment with impunity.

The people also demanded that all Chinese illegal miners should be evicted from the area to help bring peace.

Nana Opia Mensah II, the Werepimhene, denied that the chiefs were colluding with the Chinese illegal miners.