Miners working at the small-scale mining site at Obuoho -Fante community in Ayensuano in the Eastern Region were attacked Thursday, February 13, by the Rapid Deployment Taskforce of the Forestry Commission burning four excavators have embarked on a demonstration to protest the action of the Forestry officials.
The miners say the burning of the four excavators has rendered over 50 miners jobless and disrupted their livelihood. The four excavators burnt have also incurred a loss of 100 million cedis.
The miners wearing red armed bands, chanted war songs to express their anger.
Adu Gyamfi, an Assembly member for Obuoho, told the media, ” There is no job in this area, so mining is the mainstay of the youth. Now that they have burnt the excavators, about 50 youths have been rendered jobless here. So we are appealing to the president to investigate and let us know where those who burnt the excavators came from and who gave them the orders.”
The aggrieved miners accused the forestry officials of using explosive items to blast the excavators.
They concede mining near buffer zone but deny trespassing forestry reserve and mining in river.
