Deputy National Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Kamal Deen-Abdulai has called for the immediate dismissal of a District Chief Executive implicated in the “A Tax for Galamsey” exposé, insisting that the standard applied in the past must be upheld today.
According to him, if a District Chief Executive could be removed from office over a public outburst in 2014, then allegations of authorising receipts for excavators used in illegal mining should equally attract swift sanctions.
Speaking on Joy Prime on February 14, he said, “You remember the ‘tweaa’ DCE, just going to a function and saying ‘tweaa’ he was sacked. Today, somebody is alleged to have granted receipts for excavators.”
The “Tweaa” incident involved Gabriel Barima, former District Chief Executive for Ahafo Ano South.
During a speech at the Mankranso Hospital, Barima was heckled by an unidentified member of the audience who shouted “Tweaa”—an Akan interjection used to express contempt or disapproval. Offended by the remark, Barima stopped his speech and angrily confronted the crowd, famously asking: “Who said ‘tweaa’? Am I your co-equal?”
Barima was initially reprimanded but was later dismissed by President John Mahama in March 2014.
Kamal Deen-Abdulai referenced the recent investigative documentary titled “A Tax for Galamsey” by JoyNews, which alleged that some district authorities were collecting payments from operators of banned mining equipment.
He stated that in the exposé, the District Chief Executive for the community, was heard telling an individual that upon payment of GH¢70,000, an excavator would be allowed to operate regardless of its legality.
“That is where we have gotten to. People who came to lie to us that they have even stopped importation of excavators and that they are making sure the excavators are arrested, the same people now granting licenses to people to go into the bush and cause problems.”
“Our position is that anyone who is involved, if you say yesterday it was not good, today equally will not be good. Sack that person immediately and let’s see that you are indeed committed to the fight against gaiamsey.”
The documentary specifically implicated the District Chief Executive for Amansie Central, Emmanuel Obeng Agyeman, who was captured on record admitting to authorising the printing and distribution of stickers allegedly used to permit the operation of banned mining equipment.
The exposé alleged that operators of excavators and other prohibited machinery were charged fees and issued official stickers, effectively allowing them to continue operations despite a nationwide ban.
