Small Scale Miners who operate within the Bekwai municipality, in the Obuasi East district and the Adansi Asokwa district of the Ashanti region have threatened to vote against the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the upcoming 2024 general elections if one Akwasi Aboagye, who claims to be the founder of Adansiman Progressive Association is not called to order.
According to the teeming small-scale miners who have over 10,000 workers in their mining sites, Akwasi Aboagye has allegedly connived with some police officers within the Ashanti South Region and some groups of journalists within the Adansi enclaves who regularly visit scale mining sites in the Districts mentioned above and Municipality to intimidate, harass and extorts huge amounts of monies ranging from 30,000 and 40,000 Ghana Cedis and at times demands 50,000 Cedis from groups of miners at their mining sites.
They averred that the said Akwasi Aboagye claims he has been authorized by the Ministries of Lands and Natural Resources, as well as the Sanitation and Water Resources to protect the river bodies within the Amansie and the Adansi enclaves.
He has thus been deliberately adopting these strategies to cripple and collapse the businesses of the small-scale miners.
The over 10,000 small-scale miners further disclosed that Akwasi Aboagye is collapsing the NPP base in the Ashanti region with his selfish agenda which both the Ashanti regional NPP secretariat and the National Executive Committee must sit up else the NPP will lose in the region.
The miners said it is possible that what happened in the 2020 elections which culminated in the Akufo-Addo led NPP administration facing a hung parliament, will manifest again in the 2024 4l4ctions.
The miners are also saying that, they have several workers who by their political affiliations are NPP supporters, and could change their voting patterns should Akwasi Aboagye is allowed to continue his manipulations.
They are calling on the ministries of Ministries of Lands and Natural Resources, as well as the Sanitation and Water Resources to come clear on claims by Akwasi Aboagye that he had his authority to extort money from the miners from these ministries.
Checks from the Adansi Traditional Council has however revealed that the Traditional Council is not even aware of the operations of Akwasi Aboagye and as such does not recognize any of his activities as legal.
“We have not sanctioned any Akwasi Aboagye to supervise or watch over our water bodies to the extent that, he would be going around collecting such huge amounts of monies from the small-scale miners,” a source at the Adansi Traditional Council revealed.
The angry miners who are vexed by the activities of Akwasi Aboagye, have sent a strong signal to the Ashanti regional executives of the NPP to stop Akwasi Abagye or face their wrath in the coming elections.
