KILLED! Paa Kofi
A shooting incident that occurred at a galamsey site at Sefwi Abrokofe, near Sefwi Boinzan in the Sefwi Juaboso District of the Western North Region, has led to the death of an 18-year-old man in the area popularly called Paa Kofi.
The alleged shooting incident happened at a site belonging to a Chinese illegal miner.
The security guard of the purported Chinese galamseyer was alleged to have fired the gun, which also led to the injury of two other residents.
Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicate that the youth in the area normally storm the galamsey sites of the Chinese illegal miners to also mine in their pits, after the foreign nationals had left the sites.
According to sources, on that fateful day, last Wednesday, while some of the youth were entering the purported galamsey site of the Chinese nationals, the security guard was around and started shooting at the youth, which led to the death of Paa Kofi.
A relative of the deceased, who gave her name only as Maabena, disclosed that she believed the security man deliberately shot and killed Paa Kofi, whom she referred to as her son.
“What I gathered was that the security guard first shot on the ground and later pointed it on my son and his friends and shot them,” she alleged.
She asserted that after the death of her son, the deceased’s elder brother was arrested for allegedly inciting the youth in the town to destroy the properties of the Chinese illegal miners.
“It took the Assembly member for Boinzan Electoral Area, Affum Kooko to grant him bail,” Maabena revealed.
She continued, “The Chinese nationals want to subject us to injustice, and we are appealing to the Inspector General of Police to intervene in this matter so we can get justice.”
The father of one of the victims who was shot in the thigh, Mr. Nketiah Barnabas, said he had a call that his son had been shot, so he rushed to the scene to ascertain the truth of the matter.
“Upon reaching the place, it was disclosed that a Chinese illegal miners’ security guard was the one who shot my son and other two teenagers. But one of the victims died on the spot,” he noted.
“My son and the other injured person were initially rushed to the Proso Kofikrom Clinic but were later transferred to the Sefwi Asafo St John of God Hospital, where they are currently receiving medical attention,” he revealed.
Meanwhile, the Assembly member for Sefwi Boinzan Electoral Area, Mr. Stephen Affum Kooko, has expressed disgust about the spate at which Chinese and Ghanaian illegal miners continue to pollute river bodies and destroying arable lands, including cocoa farms.
He was worried that school children are dropping out of school to join the Chinese nationals in the illegal activities.
“Government is investing in the cocoa sector to increase production but the illegal miners are also bent on destroying the cocoa farms,” he stressed.
He, therefore, appealed to the President and the Minister of Lands to reactivate the military personnel’s ‘Operation Halt’ so that the soldiers could visit the area to halt the activities of the illegal miners.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi