By King Amoah reporting from Ankaase-Gyadam,E/R
In a blow to President John Dramani Mahama’s efforts to abolish illegal mining widely known as galamsey, a storm is brewing within his own party in the Atiwa East district in the EasternRegion.
Supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are up in arms and are demanding for the immediate removal of the District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr. Clement Owusu Ntim through investigation.
They are also calling for intensive probe linking the Atiwa East District police commander Alexander Teiko about the circumstances that led to the disappearance of eight excavators placed at his disposal by the National Security Task Force Team who seized the items from number of galamsey operators in the district.
While President Mahama is reportedly exploring all means possible to abolish illegal mining which has attracted widespread public disapproval, his appointee Clement Owusu Ntim, the Chief Executive Officer of the Atiwa East District Assembly is allegedly views galamsey as nothing more than a money making business.
Far from supporting the presidential directives Mr. Ntim is reportedly at the heart of serious illegal mining operations within the district, particularly at Ankaase Gyadam a community already grappling with environmental degradation.
Sources within the district’s NDC fraternity paint a grim picture alleging that the DCE has not only refused to cease his activities despite internal warnings but he has also employed frontmen, believed to be his family members to execute his illicit gold mining operations.
The most damning allegation revolves around the alleged retrieval of seized mining equipment.
It is reported that a Task Force team from Accra recently confiscated eight excavators and other machinery from illegal mining sites including those allegedly linked to the DCE.
However in a shocking turn of events that took place Ntim is alleged to have personally ordered the return of these impounded assets.
Ndc supporters claim that the DCE stormed the premises of the District Police Command to retrieve the equipment with the command initially to. question or resist him
Compounding these claims, about sixteen illegal miners who had been apprehended by the Task Force were reportedly set free under mysterious circumstances, party members revealed
Party supporters also raised a serious accountability questions regarding huge fines slapped on bulldozer seized by the Task Force.
Furthermore the correspondent gathered that, landowners and farmers whose properties have been devastated by these illegal mining activities have reportedly been denied due compensations.
This situation it was observed has amplified the community’s distress and sense of injustice.
The Atiwa East District Polic Command finds itself squarely in the crosshairs of these accusations.
When approached for his comments the District Commander Alexander Teiko refused to speak to the correspondent citing police protocol that prohibits media engagement without prior authorization.
However investigations further uncovered a critical contradiction in the instructions from the appropriate quarters that issued a directive for for the removal of the machines from the police office.
This is because after causing arrests and transfered the machines for police custody instructions followed that no one should release the intercepted excavators until investigations surrounding them are completed.
This directive appears to have been flouted, as party supporters allege that they are scared to find out the person who authorised the release of the excavators to the DCE.
They claim that. Ntim has subsequently handed these machines back to his
boys, namely Junior Ntim and Victor Ntim whom supporters alleged are biological brothers to the DCE.
These two brothers who allegedly serve as the frontmen for the DCE can be visibly located at the galamsey site actively woking as if they are operating legally.
The frustrations among the Ndc activists in the Atiwa East has reached a boiling point
Speaking to the correspondent, Samuel Mensah an official of the District Ndc indicated that the party’s appeal to President John Dramani Mahama touch down with the removal of the District Chief Executive and nothing more.
Several attempts to locste the Dce for his side version was not successful and even his mobile phone was out of coverage area.
As we demand answer from the police command and the Dce on whom authorized for the removal of the machines and setting the galamsey operators free party activists believe that President John Dramani Mahama would intervene in this case and bring the Dce to book when he is found guilty of the allegations.
Attached pictures are the Dce and one his frontmen at the galamsey site with one of the seized excavators.
