There was pandemonium when some alleged Chinese
illegal miners opened fire on rioting youth of Manso Nsiana, a town near
Asante Bekwai in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region on
Thursday morning.
The chiefs and people of the town, angered by the activities of the
mining company, which they claim their checks at the Minerals Commission
indicate only has the authority to prospect for minerals but not to
mine, invaded the mining site ostensibly to stop the Chinese miners from
operating in the area.
However, the Chinese miners said to belong to the Hansol Company
Limited reportedly
fired gun shots to
disperse the youth as they
attempted to put in motion their intended objective.
But for the timely arrival of the police at the scene, a different story would have been told.
A resident in the community who gave his name as Kwao, revealed in an
interview on "Kokrokoo" that the alleged Chinese miners have been
operating in the town for about three months.
"...we (residents) were initially not bothered when they came to the
town because we assumed they are there on a different enterprise, but we
realize thay have began invading our properties...they (Chinese) fire
warning shots any time they head here, thus scaring the locals
away...even when they (Chinese) intend fetching water, they fire these
warning shots resulting in our women and school children having to wait
till 10 am when they (Chinese) are through...no one dares go near when
the Chinese are around...," he recounted.
According to Kwao, within the past week, five more Chinese mining
companies have moved into the community to begin their operations so the
locals, together with their chief and opinion leaders decided to go to
the site to warn them against their on-going activities.
Police Commander for the area, Chief Superintendent S.K. Kwakye later
told newsmen that they were able to retrieve one pump action and two
single barrels from the Chinese.
...Na wahhh for Chinese!
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