On Thursday, October 22, the National Anti‑Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) reportedly entered the Northern Ashanti Mines concession in Konongo, armed and accompanied by dogs, and demanded that the company’s roughly 400 workers vacate the premises within two and a half hours.
Fredrick Okine, director and shareholder of Northern Ashanti Mines, described the incursion as a “Rambo‑style takeover” during a Citi Breakfast Show interview on Tuesday, October 27. He said the operation was led by NAIMOS and directed by the regional office of the Minerals Commission. “They came in with cocked guns, kicking dogs, asking us to move out within two and a half hours,” Okine told host Bernard Avle.
Okine added that military personnel had been stationed around the mine, urging workers not to resist to avoid bloodshed. “Their appearance was as if they had been given an order to shoot anybody who obstructed,” he alleged.
The action follows the termination of Northern Ashanti Mines’ mining lease over alleged breaches that the company had reportedly failed to remedy. The firm has since filed an injunction to restrain the state from taking over the concession while a judicial review of the lease termination proceeds.
Observers note that the swift removal of workers and the use of armed force raise questions about the legal and procedural safeguards in Ghana’s mining sector. The case may set a precedent for how state agencies enforce mining regulations in the future.
