The Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Protection Authority, Professor Nana Ama Browne Klutse has detailed a violent confrontation and subsequent road accident involving an EPA security team and journalists during an anti-galamsey operation near Obuasi.
Speaking in an interview on Kanda-based TV3 on Thursday, November 6, 2025, Prof. Klutse explained the operation is a three-week strategy targeting both active miners and their supply networks in the Ashanti Region.
“The operation is part of a three-week strategy to tackle not only those mining in the rivers but also those who supply the equipment and services that make the activity possible,” she stated.
The team discovered three excavators diverting a river at Dadwene near Obuasi. After the miners fled, the team was met by advancing armed men in black uniforms marked “CID”. Prof. Klutse recounted the intense situation: “We had military and national security officers with us, but we could not exchange fire. The situation was hostile, and we had to retreat for our lives.”
While retreating and changing routes due to heightened security threats, an EPA vehicle was involved in a head-on collision with a truck near Kumasi, believed to be carrying pipes used for illegal mining.
“Just before we reached Kumasi, we had the head-on collision,” she said.
Several officials and journalists sustained injuries, including a JoyNews cameraman with a broken thigh and an Adom TV correspondent with a head injury.
“We thank God that there were no deaths. It is unfortunate that some of our people were injured,” Prof. Klutse concluded, confirming special care for the victims injured while performing national duties.
Meanwhile, the Ashanti regional branch of the Ghana Journalists have expressed solidarity with the affected journalists while calling for safer working conditions for the fraternity.
We stand in full solidarity with our affected colleagues in this difficult moment. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, their families, and their media organisations,” the association said in a statement signed by its Regional Chairman, Kofi Adu Domfeh.
