Some small scale miners in Nankaba, a surburb of Prestea, a mining town in the Western Region, have accused government’s anti-galamsey taskforce known as Operation Vanguard, of abusing the rights of civilians in the discharge of their duties.

The taskforce, as part of their operations to clamp down on illegal small scale miners, arrested 15 galamseyers at Nankaba.

However, angry residents say the modus operandi of the taskforce is abusive in nature. Some residents around the galamsey pits have also accused the taskforce of theft. They said the taskforce steal valuables from the miners when they ambush them in the pits.

Some residents who also witnessed the operations of the taskforce alleged that the security personnel disconnected the electricity supply and a blower machine which provided air to an illegal mining pit.

According to them, disconnecting the blower machines while the miners remained in the pit could have killed them as it was their primary source of air underground. The angry residents called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to call the taskforce to order or they will match them boot-for-boot.

Meanwhile, following accusations that members of the taskforce had shot some galamseyers, the past Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana, cautioned the taskforce to be careful in their operations in order not to create anxieties among the people.

According to him, although the work of the taskforce is apt, the use of brutal force may rather worsen the plight of the people and also defeat the purpose of their creation.