‘Tontokrom galamsey soldiers’ committed serious illegality - MP

The Member of Parliament for Manso Adubia, Yaw Frimpong Addo, says the provision of security for Geo Professional Services, a mining company, in Tontokrom, in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region was a serious illegality that went on for years.

Speaking in an interview with Kwame Tutu on Rainbow Radio 87.5fm, the MP said what makes the situation more worrying was that the owners of mining company violated the laws.

Geo Professional Services was issued with the “stop work order” by the Inspection Directorate of the Minerals Commission on May 18 but disregarded directives and continued mining.

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu recently visited the location and upon interrogation the soldiers mentioned their commanding officer Lt. Col. Sebastian Abraham Arhin, the Commanding Officer (CO) of 4 Infantry Battalion situated in the Ashanti Region, as the one who dispatched them there.

Commenting on the issue, the MP said, the military has been providing security for the company for so many years. That was a serious illegality and unfortunate, he added.

The company is owned by Russians and Ukrainians. The company was mining on concessions fronted by three Ghanaian companies – Kasmil Mining Company Limited, K. Afriyie and Sons Precious Metal Company and King Solomon Mining Company.

Each of the three companies secured licences for 25 acres of land from the Lands Commission but according to the mp, GPS has been operating over 500 acres of land for the past 25 years and causing devastation in the area.