The anti galamsey task force known as Operation Vanguard have allegedly shot and killed four illegal miners at a galamsey site in the Atiwa West District of the Eastern Region, residents have said.
The four were said to be moving their excavator from their mining site when the taskforce accosted them. In the ensuing confrontation, the four were killed and their bodies left in the galamsey pit filled with water.
Confirming the deaths to Class News on Sunday, August 13, the Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners, Michael Kojo Peprah, condemned the aggressiveness of the task force and called on the president to address the galamsey menace without shedding blood.
“You can’t live in your country with fear. What is happening is so appalling and we are calling on Nana Addo. It is good we are all fighting against galamsey but in so doing must we lose lives?” He questioned.
He added: “No matter how bad galamsey is, we need to make sure the problem at hand is solved without dropping blood”.
For him, even though certain individuals may be indulged in an illegality it does not mean the Operation Vanguard should shoot anyone on the perception of being involved in an illegality.
“…or is it that that is the order from above, that if you are perceived to be indulged in any illegality you are shot and killed,” he wondered.
He said the police have taken the bodies to the hospital morgue as investigations commence to ascertain the circumstances that led to the shooting.
Meanwhile, the residents in the area say it was not true that the four people were involved in galamsey at the time they were shot. Reports from the area indicate that some people in the community have vowed to fight the Vanguards.
They believe the security men have violated the rights of the alleged illegal miners for not arresting them but rather chose to shoot and kill.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
