Roads Minister Forces Miners To ‘Scrub’ Tarred Road

…After Spreading Mud, Rendering It Messy

Some illegal miners who were having a field day on a highway, and causing destruction to the Akrofufu-Twapease road in the Eastern Region have been arrested on the instructions of the Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako Atta.

This was after they were forced to wash off the mud spread on the about one-kilometer portion of the road they had badly dented.

The illegal miners were said to be carting off an excavator with low bed truck vehicle from their mining site, near the roadside, and, in the process, spreading mud on the tarred road and causing a gridlock.

Mr. Amoako Atta, who is also the Member of Parliament for the area, in the company of some constituency executives of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), bumped into the gridlock, while returning from a funeral at Twapease over the weekend.

A report by Kasapafmonline.com said that, the minister, noticing the mess caused on the road by the illegal miners and the destruction to the shoulders of the road, furiously ordered his police guard to arrest the illegal miners, two of whom were immediately arrested, but others escaped.

“Their galamsey activities are destroying the road constructed with huge amount of the taxpayer’s monies. Look at the destruction. I have handed them over to the police for the law to take its course. The police in their own wisdom will carry their own investigation,” the minister said.

Narrating the incident to the media, the minister said, “My party executives and I were from a funeral, and we came to meet this low bird trailer with Galamsey excavator. Look at this distance, more than a kilometer of road has been destroyed -so muddy.

“The entire stretch of the tarred road has been muddied so no car could cross. All the vehicles have parked at both ends. They have destroyed the shoulders of the road so I stopped and ordered my bodyguard to arrest them.

“I have handed them over to the police for the law to take its course. The police in their own wisdom will carry their own investigation.”

He added: “Their galamsey activities are destroying the road constructed with huge amount of the taxpayer’s monies. Look at the destruction. I have handed them over to the police for the law to take its course. The police in their own wisdom will carry their own investigation.”

While the two of the galamseyers were unlucky, others with them managed to escape the wrath of the minister-cum-MP.

Mr. Amoako Atta declared what he calls “negative tolerance” to illegal mining in the area, warning that, henceforth, illegal miners will be subdued in the district.

He promised to join forces with the District Chief Executive (DCE) in the fight against illegal mining.

“I am the Member of Parliament for this constituency, and I am going to work with my District Chief Executive, who is head of DISEC to support the position of government. The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has put his presidency on the line to fight galamsey to protect the environment for posterity. We have to protect our water bodies and our land,” he added.

This is not the first time Mr. Amoako Atta, as a minister, is expressing outrage and issuing instructions on the spot, and in the full glare of cameras.

Per Ghanaweb’s recollection, in 2017, when he had taken office as the sector minister of the new government, Kwasi Amoako Atta made the headlines, after he expressed anger at some engineers and contractors, who apparently constructed some shoddy roads and later demanded monies from the government.

He served notice that his outfit will no longer tolerate such behaviors.

He announced this when he inspected a portion of a road that had caved in between Nyamebekyere and Tinkong, just before a police barrier on the Mamfe-Koforidua Road in the Eastern Region.

The road caved in after torrential rains, which lasted for about an hour.

The floods destroyed most of the low-lying roads, bridges and produce in the area.

Again, in 2019, a viral video of the Minister of Roads and Highways, showed how he ordered for the demolition of a 22-storey structure at the Airport Residential Area in Accra.

It followed complaints from some residents in the community to the minister.

In the presence of security personnel, the minister ordered for the arrest of some three foreign nationals who were supervising the project.

“The chief executive of this area must be questioned. Not even the President will do this. And I don’t care which political power, economic power or traditional power that person has, this will not be allowed and we will not allow this.

“This structure came to my attention just days ago,” the minister fumed.

The project, which was near-completion at the time, is just adjacent to the Association International School (AIS).

These acts, coupled with others, have earned him the name “Terminator.”

Source: Anchorghana.com