The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, has described the alleged burning of an illegal miner by some security personnel of Adamus Resources Limited as “unGhanaian” which must be thoroughly investigated and dealt with.
The Regional Minister who was speaking during his New Year interaction with journalists in the region at the Residency of the Western Regional Coordinating Council (WRCC), said the burning of Michael Derry which resulted in his untimely death was illegal just as the illegal mining.
He also condemned illegal mining vehemently without mincing words and called on perpetrators of illegal mining to desist from it since it does not help.
“I know that it is very unGhanaian for a security person to burn someone. It is very unGhanaian. I will also use this opportunity to appeal to people who also want to do galamsey to stop because it doesn’t help anybody.”
“This is because it is somebody’s concession so why do you go there to steal its gold? It’s not proper. But I also believe that it is unGhanaian for a security person to burn a Ghanaian just because he misbehaved. You can’t take the law into your own hands“, he added.
Mr Darko-Mensah further called for calm and expressed the hope that the police will investigate the matter and bring finality to it.
“It is always better to wait for the Police to finish their investigation properly…We have to get the investigation going because Adamus Resources Limited is telling us a different story than it was by accident and that nobody actually set fire on the victim, so let’s wait for the investigation,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, the Essiama Divisional Police Commander, ACP Dodzie Hlordzi, prior to this had said that over five (5) to eight (8) Adamus Resources security personnel who were suspected to be behind the incident that happened on 22nd December 2021, on the concession of Adamus at Anwia-Bokazo, have been on Police enquiry bail.
The report says although Michael Derry, alias Budo, subsequently died from his burns at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) on December 26, 2021, the Police was yet to arraign the suspects at court.
