Relative calm has returned to Kenyasi No. 2 in the Ahafo Region following after Tuesday’s disturbances in which the police allegedly shot at some irate youth in the town, resulting in the death of one person and four others injured.
One of the injured persons was still receiving treatment at Donhart Hospital in Kenyasi, after the other three were treated and discharged, while the dead had been deposited at the hospital’s mortuary, hospital sources had confirmed.
Several vehicles and property belonging to a multi-national mining company, Newmount Ahafo Mines were damaged in the melee.
The incident, which started as a peaceful protest by youth in the twin-town against the company, degenerated into a full-blown confrontation between the youth and the police, leading to the fatality and injuries, burning of lorry tyres and destruction of property.
The initial cause of the protest could not be authenticated by the Ghanaian Times.
However, snippets gathered in the community indicated that Newmont had been allegedly preventing some of the youth from continuously engaging in illegal mining (galamsey) on the company’s concession in the area and this might have infuriated them.
When the paper visited Kenyasi yesterday morning, the street were empty with only few shops opened, while there was heavy military-cum-police presence.
The leader of the youth group, Abdul Karim Yeboah, who spoke to the Ghanaian Times, accused Newmont of using the police to molest them whenever they were arrested on their concession.
He said they would stop at nothing, if justice was not served to their departed colleague who had been killed by the police.
The youth leader called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to cause an investigation into the matter to bring about lasting peace to the area.
Meanwhile, a statement issue by Newmont Ahafo Mines and signed by Mr David Ebo Johnson, Director, Communications and External Relations, and copied to the Ghanaian Times confirmed the incident but could not confirm what brought about the disturbances.
The statement indicated that relevant regulatory authorities had been notified of the incident and that the company was cooperating with police investigations.
“The company is also working closely with security personnel who have been deployed to the scene to keep the situation under control,” the statement stated.
The police said they had opened investigations and anybody found culpable would be taken through the due process of the law.
