Police On Manhunt For Mining Company For Destroying Cocoa Farms At Kotuakrom, Nnobem and Kwame yeboakrom In Dormaa West
The police officers have started searching the owners of the company for their wrongdoing after the affected farmers with the supreme support of the Dormaa West District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr. Oppong Kwadwo Francis had officially reported the destruction of cocoa farms to the Dormaa West District Police Command.
Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu Greater The Dormaa West District Police Command of the Ghana Police Service in the Bono Region has embarked on a manhunt for the owners of the unknown mining company who have allegedly destroyed the vast acres of cocoa-growing farms at Kotuakrom, Nnobem, and Kwame Yeboakrom within the district without recourse to the expenses of the affected farmers.
The police officers have started searching the owners of the company for their wrongdoing after the affected farmers with the supreme support of the Dormaa West District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr. Oppong Kwadwo Francis had officially reported the destruction of cocoa farms to the Dormaa West District Police Command.
The owners of unknown mining companies were reported to have ordered their workers to illegally enter into the cocoa farms on Thursday, February 16, 2022, and Friday, February 17, 2022, to forcibly destroy their cocoa trees on the land.
The owners of the company, according to the information available to soireenews.com were claimed to have been testing the said land to prospect stone quarry or gold but they entered into the land without the knowledge of the cocoa farmers, custodian owners of the land, stakeholders, and Dormaa West District Assembly.
Narrating the ordeals of the farmers in an interview with Soireenews.com, Dormaa West District Chief Executive stated that the action of the owners of the company was a complete breach of the Local Government Act (Act 936) section 12 which states that "nobody can transact any business in the district without the knowledge of the District Assembly which the DCE is the head."
According to Mr. Francis, being the government appointees in charge of the entire securities of the district, he had information from the farmers from Kotuakrom, Nnobem, and Kwame Yeboakro that some unknown people had entered into their cocoa farms and pulled down their cocoa trees to mine gold or stone quarry.
"When l got the information, l quickly called on the Dormaa West District Police Commander including other security agencies and some staff of the Assembly and we quickly rushed to the scene because we are not aware of any company being licensed to come and carry mining activities in my area.
"When we got there we saw that it was true. And that we have noticed that the workers of the company have constructed a road through the cocoa farms to that site and we saw very big rocks laying on the ground. Because we are aware that these places are rocking areas, so without telling us anything we got to know that the workers of the company wanted to mine the rocks.
"In the scene, we met some of the affected cocoa farmers and we interacted with them and they were complaining that the workers of the company pulled down their cocoa trees without informing them and they were not even compensated.
"In this regard, l told the farmers that they should report the incident to the Dormaa West District Police Command for which they did," the DCE explained.
He indicated that the following day which was Friday, February 17, they went to the scene of the destruction with their intention to meet the owners of the mining company who came to destroy the farms but "we didn't meet them again."
Additionally, the DCE pointed out that they also moved to the communities of where the farmers are coming from and that when they met the people including their chiefs and stakeholders, and asked them whether they gave out the land to the company to mine they responded that they didn't know the company.
"The people including their chiefs and other opinion leaders made it to us that they were not aware of the operation of the company and that they only heard it from the DCE and officials of Assembly today (Friday, February 17, 2022) in this meeting," the DCE reaffirmed.
Following this development, the DCE stated that his outfit has advised the farmers to report the company to the Assembly or the police anytime they see their workers on their farmlands so that 'we come to arrest them."
"So when we left the people in the community and went to the office, l traveled that Friday, February 17, 2022, which was weekend to Sunyani so when l am there on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, they informed me that they are preparing to go to the farms.
"However in the morning of Wednesday, February 23, 2022, when l am in Sunyani, l had received a distress call that the workers of the company came to the farms land again and l called the Assembly Coordinating Director via a telephone call to go and informed the Dormaa West District Police Commander so that they quickly go there and arrest the workers on the land," the DCE stated.
According to the DCE, they gave him feedback that when they went to the scene, the workers of the company are not working and what they saw was that they packed their caterpillars on the land and they are nowhere to be found.
"As at the time l am speaking to today Wednesday, February 23, we still didn't know the owners of the company to find out from them what they wanted to do on the land although we suspected that they wanted to use the land for gold mining or stones quarry mining activities," the DCE stated.
"I want to state that once l am not aware before the company entered into my jurisdiction to destroy the farm crops of the farmers it means that the company has done illegal things. And even if the company has the documents to do so it should have passed through the Dormaa West District Assembly to make an introduction to the Assembly first before it can be allowed to enter into our district," the DCE noted.
The DCE stressed that since the Dormaa West District Police Commander is a member of Dormaa West DISEC, he instructed him to impress his officer to embark on the search of the owners of the company and affect their arrest and investigate them.
Mr. Francis assured residents, particularly the affected farmers that his outfit would ensure that the owners of the company are brought to book to face the full rigors of the company.
