High Court Order Ignored
Talensi was almost in the news again this week for a disturbing reason. A bloody clash nearly broke out after some unidentified men in military uniform appeared at the site of Nanlamtaaba Enterprise, a small-scale mining firm owned by a Ghanaian, and said they had been deployed to stop Nanlamtaaba workers from mining.
The public will recall that a High Court in Bolgatanga directed the Ghana Police Service some months ago to provide protection and assistance to Nanlamtaaba Enterprise to enable the company to work at the site.
The order followed an application filed by Nanlamtaaba’s lawyers. It is a by-product of an ongoing civil case filed by Nanlamtaaba Enterprise against the Chinese-owned Earl International Group (Ghana) Gold Limited, the Minerals Commission and three others.
The Upper East Regional Police Command, currently headed by arguably the best regional police commander the region has ever had, DCOP John Ferguson Dzineku, is providing protection and assistance to Nanlamtaaba Enterprise at the site as ordered by the High Court. The Ghana Police Service is leading enforcement of the court order at the site, and only calls in the Ghana Armed Forces when necessary.
Background: Competing Press Conferences
The public will recall that a local group supporting the Chinese company, formerly known as Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited, recently organised a press conference in favour of the Chinese company, saying they did not want Nanlamtaaba Enterprise on their land.
Supporters of Nanlamtaaba Enterprise, drawn from communities across Talensi, later held a bigger press conference in reaction, chanting in unison: “No Nanlamtaaba, No Earl International!”
Minerals Commission’s Contemptuous Letter
Following these developments, the Minerals Commission — which is standing trial at the High Court in Bolgatanga with Earl International as co-defendants in the case filed by Nanlamtaaba Enterprise — contemptuously wrote a letter to Nanlamtaaba Enterprise, the plaintiff, ordering it to vacate the same mining site that is the main subject of the ongoing case.
As the public will recall, lawyers for Nanlamtaaba Enterprise hit back on Monday, 14 September 2026, with a strongly worded statement.
In that five-page letter, they made it clear that both the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, Isaac Andrews Tandoh, and the Commission itself would be hauled before the court for contempt if he failed to retract the letter within 48 hours of receipt.
Mystery Soldiers Invade Site
But even before that letter was dispatched from the Kulendi @ Law Maalo Chambers, some men in military-coloured uniforms had appeared at Nanlamtaaba Enterprise’s site.
Numbering about 12 and armed with rifles, they came in three pickups and two armoured cars. Two of the pickups were camouflaged in military colours and the other one was a light shade of yellow.
In direct contradiction of the High Court order, the men in khaki told Nanlamtaaba workers they had been deployed to the site by the Commanding Officer of the 11 Mechanised Infantry Battalion of the Ghana Army at the Abilba Barracks in Bolgatanga to ensure Nanlamtaaba did not operate.
These unidentified men were not part of the team of police officers and soldiers enforcing the High Court order at the site.
Sources in Talensi say the unidentified men were engaged by the Minerals Commission to block Nanlamtaaba Enterprise so the Chinese company could take over Nanlamtaaba’s lawful concession and work underground. They said they were doing so for some handsome financial rewards from the Chinese company.
When journalist Edward Adeti contacted the Commanding Officer on Monday, 14 September 2026, he denied authorising any such deployment.
Talensi on the Brink of Bloodshed
This double game nearly threw Talensi into turmoil. Because Nanlamtaaba is made up of locals, indigenes and supporters of the company vowed to retaliate. They vowed to block the Chinese company from operating in Talensi in their numbers even if the ‘soldiers’ shot and killed them in the process. They said they were prepared to die.
The deployment of the unidentified soldiers to block enforcement of the High Court order was bound to trigger a confrontation with the recognised team of police personnel stationed at the site to enforce the court order. A battle between supporters of Nanlamtaaba Enterprise and those backing the Chinese company was looming. A gunfight between the recognised state security team and the unidentified soldiers was also looming. The district stood on the edge of a bloody clash.
How Bloodshed Was Averted
While tension was mounting, officials of Nanlamtaaba Enterprise approached the unidentified soldiers at the site, demanding to know who deployed them to block enforcement of the court order. The encounter was recorded. The soldiers maintained they were detailed by the Commanding Officer of the Abilba Barracks.
The journalist, Edward Adeti, placed a call again to the Commanding Officer just as he had done a week earlier on the same subject. But the Commanding Officer did not answer the call. He also did not reply to a WhatsApp message sent to him for comment.
It took the swift intervention of Media Without Borders, which drew the attention of top state security agencies in the region, the Northern Command and Accra, to avert bloodshed. The unidentified soldiers subsequently exited the site. That is how tensions that could have put Talensi in grim headlines were defused.
Certainly, the illegally deployed soldiers will not return to the site; but nobody knows the next plans of the self-seeking suspects who are deliberately and unpatriotically fanning these needless tensions at the local and national levels.
Grave Questions That Demand Answers
This disturbing development raises grave questions. The soldiers who came to the site reportedly tried to prevent Nanlamtaaba staff from recording and attempted to cover their name tags, though their names were still visible on the right-hand side of their uniforms. Who are these soldiers? On whose orders do they operate? And why would soldiers be used to countermand a High Court order that the police and soldiers are already enforcing?
Efforts made by Media Without Borders to get a response from the Minerals Commission on this issue were unsuccessful. Phone calls and WhatsApp messages sent to the Acting CEO three days before publication went unanswered. Similar messages sent to the Commission’s Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs, Ama Mawusi Mawuenyefia, two days before publication also went unanswered.
The Minerals Commission must answer. The Commission, which is a co-defendant alongside Earl, cannot claim neutrality while soldiers appear on a disputed site to do the bidding of its co-defendant.
Our Position
This media outlet holds that the presence and conduct of these unidentified soldiers should be urgently investigated. If the Commanding Officer of the 11 Mechanised Infantry Battalion at the Abilba Barracks in Bolgatanga is found culpable, the Ghana Armed Forces must appropriately sanction him.
A mining district as fragile as Talensi cannot afford any commander who says one thing to his superiors and allegedly instructs his subordinates to do another. Such conduct puts the Armed Forces itself in contempt of court and threatens national security.
It is instructive that senior officers in charge of security around the Presidency and the Northern Sector are said to be waiting for credible media publications on this matter to act. This publication should serve as that basis.
What makes it more shameful is the alleged role of the Minerals Commission itself, which is also a co-defendant in that same suit. The regulator that is supposed to be neutral is sitting in the dock with a foreign company accused of trespass, while it pens eviction letters to a Ghanaian licence holder and unknown soldiers allegedly appear to enforce those letters in direct and contemptuous contradiction of a strict High Court order.
We have received reports of alleged military excesses in Talensi with videos showing how some alleged victims were treated at health facilities. With our sources on the ground, our eyes are focused on Talensi to ensure that the district remains safe and those involved in human rights abuses do not go unpublished and unpunished.
Source: Editorial/ Media Without Borders / mwbonline.org / Ghana / West Africa
