I’ve read the syndicated reports making the rounds, stories deliberately planted to smear the young soldiers who stood guard at SIMPA JUNCTION–TARKWA, watching over 41 seized galamsey excavators for almost three months.

Instead of celebrating their grit, sections of the media, big names with reach, resources, and supposed credibility, have chosen to weaponise their platforms to brand these men as “rogues.”

But here’s the truth: they didn’t bother to ask.

• Who deployed these men?
• How did just four soldiers manage to seize and hold 41 heavy machines for over two months?
• Why has the so-called “real task force” not named the powerful figures behind the young soldiers?

When NAIMOS was inaugurated in June 2025, these soldiers were already guarding the excavators. Their operation was legitimate, known across Ghana’s security architecture.

Now, for the sake of argument, let’s assume the spin doctors are right, that these men are the “bad guys.” Then riddle me this: Why would the so-called bad guys seize the excavators, only for the “saints” to come later and release them?

Who’s fooling who?

NAIMOS has no mandate to shield galamsey kingpins, no matter their social standing. That is why today, I throw down the gauntlet:

Name and shame, or TEAP, will do it for you.

By Charles McCarthy