In the wake of recent clashes between some galamseyers and the anti-galamsey task force which incident has led to the death of some Galamseyers, National Commander of the task force, Colonel William Agyapong, has given the firmest of assurances that no blood will be spilled again in their operations.

According to the national commander of Operation Vanguard, the President issued a firm warning to his team during the inauguration to ensure that no single drop of blood is spilled during their operation.

“Lives are very precious, and let me say emphatically, from the onset of this mission, his Excellency was very strict that no blood should be spilt; no pint of blood and that is what we aim to do. We were not involved in this particular incident and I want the good people of this country to be rest assured, we are here to help protect the environment and that is what we are doing, and we will do that within the ambit of the laws of this country.”

Colonel Agyapong made the remarks after his team honoured an invitation by the Eastern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) yesterday in Koforidua Eastern, having failed to attend the meeting last Monday.

The meeting was to, among other issues, establish whether or not the Operation Vanguard had hands in the death of the four persons found in a mining pit at Akukuso near Kwabeng in the Eastern Region.

According to Colonel Agyapong, his unit was not responsible for the killing of the four men.

He made it clear that no level of provocation will lead to the killing of any illegal miner.

“No level of provocation will be such that it will require somebody’s life to be taken. We are security men, we are policemen and military men, we will only use our weapons if our lives are threatened, at this stage, we haven’t come to that.”



In his estimation, their operation in Eastern Region was going well, commending the locals in mining areas for volunteering more information to the task force.

Meanwhile, the Eastern Regional Minister, Eric Kwakye Darfuor, who doubles as Chairman of the Regional Security Council, said the IGP has dispatched special investigators from the homicide unit of the Ghana Police Service to establish the cause of death of the four persons.

He, however, said the preliminary autopsy report has ruled out gunshots hence it was possible to suggest the four persons drowned but the circumstances leading to their suspected drowning reveals a foul play which investigations into the incident will help unravel.

According to him, REGSEC will hold a stakeholder meeting which will involve the small scale miners on Thursday, August 17, 2017 to deliberate on the way forward on the operations of the task force.