AFRICANEWS

GHANA

Hazardous mining

by Albert Quaindo (998 words)

If the Nigerian proverb" the toad does not come out in the day for nothing" should be true, then it is equally unusual for a chief or traditional ruler to demonstrate or show anger in public.

But it happens that for the second time, a section of Ghananian chiefs have had to go out to demonstrate in protest against mining companies that are destroying their environment.

The last time something like this happened was two years ago when a community led by their chief and elders seized two vehicles belonging to the Ashanti Goldfields company, Ghana`s biggest mine operators, for polluting the environment with dust.

With placards in their hands and clad in mourning clothes, 42 chiefs singing dirges paraded the street of Wassa Fiase in long file with their subjects following close behind.

"This is our land, we won`t let any foreigner destroy it and go away," one of the placards read.

They threw away the decorum associated with the institution of chieftancy and protested against the 14 companies engaged in surface mining and some 20 others who are prospecting for gold in the Wassa Fiase traditional area. Liberalized mining laws have sent a lot of companies into Ghana for gold.

Wassa Fiase is in the Turkwa district of the western region. An area rich in its gold, bauxite,manganese and virgin forests.

Mr.Edmund Ofosu Asante, a mining engineer based in Turkwa, says there are 127 mining companies operating in Ghana. Twenty two more are processing their documents to commence their operations.

Mr. Ofosu Asante told the synod of the Turkwa district of the methodist church recently that this increasing number of gold mining companies in Ghana should be positive news for the citizens since the government needs foreign exchange to boost the economy.

This may be a ploy to play the church against the chiefs whose lands have been acquired by the government for the mining companies. But the mere fact that this issue got the agenda of the synod is an indication of their concern as members of the community for the increasing pollution of their water sources, hardships for re-location of whole communities with the attendant lack of amenities and the destruction of the vegetation
A total of 1.546 million ounces of gold exported in 1995 brought in 636.7 million dollars and this earning rose to about 823 million dollars last year. However, the127 delegates to the synod seemed not to have been enthused about these figures.

Another area of concern was effects of the mining activities relating to noise levels brought about by dynamite blasting and machine operations, not to speak of concentrated dust levels in the air that have made chest and nasal diseases rate high in some areas. More over, most persons in Wassa Fiase have developed rashes which they attribute to contaminated water they take from the streams.

Wassa Fiase is not alone in its problems with the gold companies. Teberebie, also located in the district is worse off. The whole farming community of Teberebie has been re-located in an enclosed area with farmlands, as their ancestral home has been given out as a concession to Teberebie goldfields company.

Fortunately, the company put up 128 single unit rooms and 40 double unit rooms for the people. To go with these was a school.

Unfortunately, however, the houses lack kitchens, bathrooms and toilets. What the company did was to construct communal kitchens and bathrooms for the re-settlers.

Nana Kwabena Kojoshie, chief of Teberebie, was not spared this inconvienience of sharing a kitchen, bathroom and toilet with his subjects. The "palace" the company built for him has only three bedrooms but no living room, nor kitchen, toilet or bathroom. His wife is often seen in the long queues to the kitchen to prepare food for him.
Just like their counterpants in Wassa Fiase, the Teberebie community has also developed rashes because they have to fetch water from polluted streams.

While the compound of the mining company is awash with lights at night, the re-settled community sleeps in the dark.
"It is aweful," said Koju Minta, a school leaver who had joined his parents in the settlement.

There is no clinic and the community is not allowed to use the well-equiped one that the company has put up for its employees.
" Neither are we, the youth offered employment by the company for fear of sabotaging their equipment," Minta said.
Already the structures the company constructed as houses for the resettlers are lined with cracks developed by the shocks from dynamites blown from the mines.

There may be some solution to some of these problems, for the " daily graphic", the country`s main daily newspaper, reported recently that the minister of environment, Mr.John Edward Afful, had directed the environmental protection agency (EPA) to despatch fact-finding teams to all mining areas where the residents have raised concern about environmental degredation, to assess the extent of damage caused.
The EPA is also under instruction from the minister to administer questionaires to municipal and district authorities to collect information on actual environmental problems they are facing.
The cause of the ministers directives was not because of the demonstration or the synod, but because the members of parliament from these mining areas keep pestering him in parliament over these environmental issues.

Information from the fact-finding teams and questionaires will enable the ministry and the EPA fashion out appropriate solutions to the problems on the ground.

Mr. Kwesi Biney, a trader who hails from Wassa Fiase wondered what has come of the environmental management plan that every company has to develop and enforce in its concession.
"Do we need the directive of the minister for the EPA to do what the tax payer funds it to do?" He asked.

Dr. Peter Acquah, executive director of the EPA said his office operates with less than 50 per cent of its required staff strength.
Dr. Acquah adds, "monitoring the environment is costly but the agency is facing serious financial constraints."

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