Tarkwa-Nsuaem MCE Fires Back: I Am Not Involved In Galamsey!
Freeman Koryekpor 
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly in the Western Region, Mr. Benjamin Kessie has denied a wide spread media reports suggesting that, he is involved in illegal small scale mining activities popularly known as ‘Galamsey operations.'
The MCE who doubles as the Chairman of Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Security Executive Committee (MUSEC) was sharply responding to the media publication being attributed to a Chief of Dompim-Pepesa, Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV that the Western Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, a Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mr. George Mireku-Duker and a Municipal Chief Executive are into illegal small-scale mining.
Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV told the media on Monday, October 10, 2022, that he had incontrovertible evidence to implicate the trio.
He has subsequently dared the trio to sue him over the allegations he has made, stressing that already he had become the subject of threat following his resolve to root out galamsey from his jurisdiction.
"I know not of any company, but I know of the very people who are behind the operations of 'galamsey' in my area. First and foremost, the Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, is involved.
"The MP for the area, Tarkwa Nsuaem, Honorable George Mireku-Duker, is also involved, and the MCE, Benjamin Kessie, is also involved. I have told you I am not going to disclose my arsenals to you."
"They said they were going to sue, so let them sue. I'll let out my arsenals at the right time," the chief alleged.
"The situation keeps getting worse, and my heart is bleeding," the chief said when asked how he feels about the galamsey scourge.
But in a quick rebuttal, the MCE stressed that "I want to tell the general public, the chiefs, queen-mothers, youths and stakeholders in Tarkwa Nsuaem municipality that I am not into galamsey and that l would be the last person to engage in galamsey operations in the area,” he said in an interview with Soireenews.com.
Mr Kessie said he respects President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who appointed him the DCE including chiefs and traditional office holders in Tarkwa Traditional Council.
According to the MCE, he would be the last person to defy the order of President Akufo-Addo to go ahead and do illegal small scale mining that the President has been spending huge monies to fight against this menace in the mining prove communities in the country.
Mr. Kessie who is a native of Dompim stated that Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV was attacking their intergrty and hard won reputations out of hatred because he felt that they didn't supported him to reign the throne of Dompim-Pepesa Stool under the Tarkwa Traditional Area.
He explained that Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV beef against them was an extension of the Chieftaincy brouhaha in connect with who is the chief of Dompim-Pepesa for which Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV who is chief from the other faction is on radio or to attack their personalities with the forge allegations that he together with MP and Western Regional Minister was supporting his rival chief,
Ohyiawora Bian Nyowah IV.
According to the MCE, Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV accused them of supporting his opponent, Ohyiawora Bian Nyowah IV against him because they had been attending public functions with Ohyiawora Bian Nyowah IV who has been installed chief of Dompim-Pepesa in the 2018 because Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV came out to state he his the chief of the same area.
The MCE was of the view that when he appointed the MCE in the area, the chief in Dompim-Pepesa they known is Ohyiawora Bian Nyowah IV.
"However since that "we know that Ohyiawora Bian Nyowah IV is the chief of Dompim-Pepesa who was installed in the year 2018, we have been working with Ohyiawora Bian Nyowah IV and that any annual year that the chief organised the festival and we honoured his invitation and we go as political leaders in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality."
"So we usually attend his programmes and that in the wake of Christmas in 2019 or early 2020, this man [Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV] came out to say that he is also a chief of the Dompim-Pepesa community so we should support him. But we have not been going to his functions so the chief sees us as enemies and that he has gone to join the forces form independent ostensibly to fight against the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality.
"However the Western Regional Minister attends the programmes of the other chief (Ohyiawora Bian Nyowah IV) and don't attend the functions of Nana Nyonwah Panyin, so that has been his reasons for him to use the media platforms to attack the integrity and reputation of Western Regional Minister that he is involving in galamsey operations" the MCE explained.
This notwithstanding, the MCE added that Nana Nyonwah Panyin has been accusing him and the MP of the area of involving galamsey because he also sees the two for supporting his opponent instead of him.
"So Nana Nyonwah Panyin has took an opportunity to use media platforms to attack them of doing galamsey to justify the recent wearing statement made by President Akufo-Addo to the effect that "if any appointee found culpable doing galamsey operations he would not spare such appointee," Mr. Kessie revealed.
Additionally, the MCE explained further that the chief found the warning statement of the President "so timingly to immediately use the media platforms to make these forge allegations against them of involving in galamsey operations.
The MCE noted that there are preparing to institute legal against the chief in law court to subject Nana Nyonwah Panyin to proof his claims.
According to the MCE, since the President Akufo-Addo placed ban on the illegal small scale mining activities and subsequently lifted the ban on the operation, he has been working closely with the police officers and military galamsey taskforce including mining regulatory institutions to visit some mining prove communities within his jurisdiction to clamp down on the operations of the galamseyers.
He pointed out that "l have visited and continue to be visiting the mining prone communities to engage the chiefs and community members and discussed with them on how they can take local actions to help the government in fighting against the illegal miners in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality."
"I have been to all communities along the Bonsa River. And sometimes l went to these communities together with the officials of Minerals Commission, Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Forestry Commission, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and including solders and police officers to drum home the campaign against the illegal activities of miners," the MCE reaffirmed.
"I also used my visit to sanitise the miners and members of the communities on the needs to preserve water bodies, forest range reserves the environment from being destroyed by the activities of illegal small scale miners. As l speak we have arrested many illegal miners who are currently in court for their involvement in the illegal small scale mining activities.
We have decommissioned or destroyed
dozens of changfans and other equipment for illegal mining and seized excavators. We are doing everything possible to ensure that we win the fight against galamsey operations in Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality," the MCE stated.
He pointed that they "realized that the fight against the galamseyers if the community members didn't support the government there are no ways and mean we can survive in the fight against illegal small scale miners."
According to him, his outfit has intensified these educational systems because we have noticed that some of the chiefs and his followers had been entertaining the miners in their communities because they are directingly benefiting from the illegal miners who are living in their communities.
...so we realized that it is the high time for us to actively engage them so that they cannot stop shielding the illegal miners in their communities to do and destroy our water bodies and environment. We believe strongly that by taking these measures and steps, we can surely win the fight against the miners," he further emphasized.
He added that "The fight against the illegal miners is a complex fight so if you are attacking the politicians, l think you are attacking the wrong persons, because the politicians were just few in this country.
The MCE noted that plans were underway to meet hundreds of miners and gold dealers-buyers at the Tarkwa Municipal Assembly Hall on Wednesday October 12,2022.
According to him, would serve as a viable plaform to intensify education on the implications of illegal small scale mining activities and the destruction caused to the water bodies, forest range reserves and environment by the illegal activities of miners.
The meeting, the MCE noted would also afford opportunity for him to engage the miners and gold dealers/buyers in his jurisdiction to ask them to take up the fight against the manace in the municipality.
"The miners themselves would be asked to take up the fight against irresponsible mining activities, and that if your friend miners are doing something illegally that is affecting the water bodies, forest range reserves and environment, l think the miners would caution their colleagues to prevent him from doing so and that this would ensure that there would be peace and unity in my jurisdiction," he added.
"I am going to use the meeting to give the fight to miners and gold dealers/buyers in my jurisdiction to go and educate the miners in their respective living communities so that they can also be in the business," the MCE added.
