Ghanaian RADAR can report that in a disturbing new development, illegal miners (galamseyers) in Ayanfuri in the Upper Denkyira West District of the Central Region, have taken to excavating people’s homes in search of gold.
According to information available to the paper, one Agya Yaw is allegedly behind the development in Ayanfuri. Sources claim that Agya Yaw has assembled a team of ‘galamseyers,’ mainly comprising youth, who conduct these illicit operations openly in full public view.
Currently, one resident in the town, Moses Akomaning Agyapong, has had his house besieged by these galamsey operators.
When visited on Thursday, April 17, 2025, it was observed that the activities of Agya Yaw and his gang of illegal miners have created a very big hole on Mr. Agyapong’s land just close to his house, posing danger to children and residents within that area.
And as of the time our reporter arrived at the site, Agya Yaw’s men were busily exploiting for gold, with an excavator sitting right on Mr. Akomaning Agyapong’s land.
The Ghanaian RADAR established that already an uncompleted building belonging to Mr. Agyapong has been razed down by the galamseyers.
A resident who spoke to Ghanaian RADARon condition of anonymity said: “They [the galamseyers] have well-armed security that protects them while working.”
“Agya Yaw is politically connected and reportedly has security officials in his pocket, making it difficult to halt his illegal activities,” he added.
Mrs. Diana Agyapong, the wife of Mr. Moses Akomaning Agyapong, narrated their plight, saying she initially confronted the galamseyers but they defied her, stating that the owner of the said land had given them approval to mine gold on it.
She lamented that the galamseyers through their operations have dug a very big hole on their land, endangering lives and destroying her food crops. She warned that the consequences would be dire if the galamseyers are not stopped immediately.
According to her, his husband [Mr. Akomaning Agyapong] purchased the land (a little over one acre) in 1995 and has since used part for farming while building on the other.
She accused Perseus Mining Ghana Limited, a multinational mining company operating in the area, of allowing the galamseyers to invade their property and undertake illegal mining.
“If the company had agreed to our terms of compensation all these would not have happened,” she noted.
She recounted that in 2012, Perseus Mining Ghana Limited, a multinational mining company operating in the area, came to Ayanfuri and put ‘Stop Work’ notice on some buildings in the town, claiming that those houses were within the company’s concession.
She said four (4) years (2016) later, Perseus came back and ensured that they resettled all the affected houses, leaving just them. “The reason they [Perseus] failed to resettle us was that they came with their own negotiation terms and what they were offering was really a pittance which we outrightly rejected,” she stated.
Against this backdrop, Mrs. Agyapong called on the security agencies to stop the illegal mining activity currently ongoing on their land and bring the perpetrators to book.
Story By: Dennis Ato Keelson
