Following an alleged fight between forestry officials and miners at Mfante near Tepa in the Ahafo Ano North municipality of the Ashanti region, two people were reportedly shot dead, while two others were injured.
On Friday, forestry authorities allegedly assaulted a community mining site in the region, and after a confrontation followed, two of the people protecting the site were shot dead.
Two of the miners were also injured and are being treated at the Tepa Government Hospital.
The government, through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, initiated the community mining initiative at Mfante in 2021, with the goal of employing 2000 people in the region.
However, there have apparently been disagreements in recent years between forestry inspectors and miners over mining activity in the region.
Forestry authorities have argued that the aforementioned region is inside the forestry zone and that the miners lack legal documentation to back up their claim that the area has been designated for community mining.
As a result of this, when forestry officials rushed the location on Friday, a confrontation followed, resulting in the fatalities.
According to Abu Issah, Assembly member of the Mfante electoral region, who verified the event to Citi News, the inhabitants are living in dread as a result of the incident, and many of them have begun abandoning the area.
As a result, he is urging the government to resolve the matter by providing the relevant documents on the community mining project in the region.
Police are presently investigating the event, and the bereaved family is demanding that justice be delivered.
