Atiwa East, Eastern Region — The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Atiwa East, Ernest Ntim, has appealed a recent court ruling that found him guilty of contempt of court. The Koforidua High Court 2 fined Mr. Ntim GH₵12,000 for allegedly willfully violating a court order by entering a restricted mining site in an ongoing illegal mining case.
Speaking on GHToday on GHOne TV, Mr. Ntim demanded that the presiding judge produce the evidence upon which the contempt ruling was based. He stated, “But the truth is that I have issue with the judgment, which they have filed yesterday straight away. I’m going to say that the judge who let me have access to the video, he claimed he watched it in his room and he saw me and said it may be possible. And I’m going to follow up this until the judge brings the video he’s talking about.”
Mr. Ntim also addressed calls from some members of the public urging President John Mahama to dismiss him. On this, he said, “Well, it’s up to the president, but I don’t think that the president would just do that without even listening to my side. Because if the issue really has to do with land, and if the issue really has to do with some people who think that their bad activities are being caught by the D.C., and because of that, we should try to give him a bad name for him to be hanged. I believe the president would take a lot of intelligence reports, from our security services, the BNI, those guys, they are aware of all these issues all the time.”
In related developments, the Atiwa East District Assembly has launched a Community-Based Approach Model aimed at curbing irresponsible mining practices, protecting river bodies, and ensuring strict land reclamation across the district. The model involves engaging community leaders to enter into Memoranda of Understanding with licensed small-scale miners. These agreements require miners to protect local rivers, reclaim degraded lands, and enhance corporate social responsibility within their host communities.
