Constituency executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) across 28 mining zones in the Ashanti Region have threatened to boycott the party’s upcoming regional executive elections unless the government immediately withdraws the Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) and investigates recent fatal shootings in Manso Keniago.
The ultimatum was issued at a press conference held today at Manso Keniago, following a visit by party leaders to victims of the violent incident where seven people, including Roland Abeka, 26; Maxwell Donkor, 15; Yaw Emmanuel, 34; Dominic Boakye, 22; and Owusu Richard, 24, have been confirmed dead and many others injured.
Speaking on behalf of the aggrieved executives, the NDC Constituency Chairman for Manso Adubia, Yaw Addo, warned that constituencies across Adanse, Amansie, Odotobri, Bosomefreho, Atwima Mponua, and other mining enclaves will abstain from Saturday’s polls if tangible steps are not taken to deliver justice to the bereaved families.
”Adanse, Amansie, Odotobri, Bosomefreho, Atwima Mponua and other communities that are mining zones have come together to agree that this coming Saturday, the regional elections, if they have not given us justice, we will not participate,” Mr Addo declared.
According to Mr Addo, the latest violence is part of a deliberate and recurring pattern of brutality by task force operatives that has left 32 people shot in the constituency within a single month, including 20 victims from the most recent incident.
He alleged that the operations have strayed from their mandate to protect water bodies and have instead become an extortion enterprise.
”The NAIMOS are not here to protect water bodies; it is a business,” Mr Addo stated, adding, “If they seize the machines and they call you and you didn’t come for negotiation, then they burn the machines, which I have evidence of, where it happened in Manso Adubia.”
He argued that confiscated equipment should be handed over to the District Assembly for public use rather than being leveraged for financial gain, claiming that during the latest incident at Manso Keniago, operatives abandoned a seized machine and fled the scene after shooting residents.
Mr Addo also revealed that he had personally suffered abuse at the hands of the task force, noting that the escalating violence has severely damaged the NDC’s standing among local youth and made it impossible for party executives to openly wear party colours without facing public hostility.
”As I stand here, I’m a victim; I was arrested and beaten with iron rods by NAIMOS. As I stand here, I’m feeling pain in my abdomen as a party chairman,” he said, adding, “I couldn’t even wear NDC colours if I go out; no one will follow me, and they will also boo me.”
Warning of severe electoral consequences, the Manso Adubia Chairman noted that the party had worked hard to narrow the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) vote margin in the constituency from over 15,000 to 5,000, positioning the NDC to flip the seat in 2028.
He cautioned that continued task force excesses—allegedly involving a combination of NAIMOS personnel and some police officers—could erode those gains and cost the party seats it successfully flipped in the 2024 general elections.
”Today, the seat that we flipped in 2024, as I stand here, if we go to elections today, we will lose all the seats because this is the way some of the police officers, combined with NAIMOS, are going about it,” Mr Addo warned.
While stressing that party members do not believe the government sanctioned the killings, he called on President John Dramani Mahama, the Ashanti Regional Minister, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Minister for Defence, the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Tetteh Yohunu, to intervene immediately and ensure the perpetrators face the full rigours of the law.
”We appeal to our father, John Dramani Mahama… that wherever the perpetrators are, they should be brought to be dealt with in accordance with the law,” Mr Addo urged, while also appealing to the Chief of Staff, NDC National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, and Ashanti Regional Chairman Nana Kwasi to lend their voices to the demand for the immediate withdrawal of NAIMOS before Saturday’s regional elections.
For his part, Chief of Manso Keniago, Nana Obeng Mensah Ababio, who spoke to us, also indicated that some uniformed police officers stationed at Manso Keniago were attacked by the NAIMOS during the incident.
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