The armed personnel according to information available to GhanaWeb set ablaze some excavators and nearby houses on fire without any explanations.
Nana Akua Abrafi II, Queen mother of Ntobroso community confirmed this in an interview with GhanaWeb Ashanti Regional Correspondent, Nana Peprah.
According to the worried queen mother, she and her elders tried halting the incident by speaking to the armed men, but their pleas were not headed to.
She told GhanaWeb, the excavators which were burnt were parked closely to some houses, a reason for the spread of the fire.
According to the Queen mother, the military men intentionally set ablaze the excavators of one Amos Gyamfi and his house on fire for.
“Initially, they told the man that they were going to stop but the next thing we saw was that they had set fire into three(3) excavators belonging to one Amos Gyamfi. They further went ahead and intentionally set his house ablaze too,” she told GhanaWeb.
Nana Akua Abrafi II added that the military men before their operation, blast two containers that had been filled with diesel, causing a spillage around. This, she explained, created a possible spread of fire to other areas.
Three(3) excavators, three houses and a corn mill room got burnt after the military men went to the Ntobroso community to set these excavators and a house belonging to one Mr. Amos Gyamfi for allegedly engaging in illegal mining activity.
According to some residents, they had to flee into bushes to save their lives.
The residents revealed that these military men who were numbering about fifteen stormed the home of Mr. Gyamfi and set fire into the three (3) excavators that had been parked near his house and also continued to set his house ablaze.
“Due to the tendency of the fire, three other houses were completely burnt. Light poles and light wires were all affected leading to a total blackout. The entire community went off,” a resident revealed.
“We initially thought the world had come to an end because these soldiers sent all of us to hell. Almost all residents of the entire community ran into the bush to save their lives. These soldiers were blasting the entire area with fire amid gunshots,” another resident revealed.
Assemblymember for the area, Hon. Charles E.K Nsia speaking to GhanaWeb said he initially went with the queen mother to speak to the military men so that they could calm down before things got escalated but the military officers refused to listen to them.
Describing the action as very unfortunate, the assembly member revealed that many properties aside Mr. Gyamfi’s house and three excavators have been destroyed by the military men.
“We’re not here to condone illegal mining, but you can’t come and set the whole town on fire because you think someone has done the wrong”.
Hon. E.K Nsiah however advised the youth who had been outraged by the military’s action to calm down since he and his committee will meet the elders to sort out things.
Meanwhile, the queen mother told GhanaWeb that the victim, Amos Gyamfi and his family have been sent to the hospital.
She disclosed that a coffin and other funeral items that had been parked in Mr. Gyamfi’s house towards the funeral of the chief of the town have been burnt.
“Can you believe that items meant for the funeral preparation of our late chief have all been burnt by the soldiers? We had kept them inside Mr. Gyamfi’s house”. She said.
