Ghana: Coalition on Mining Blames Gov't For Rights Abuse in Mining Areas
[ Note: the word "galamsey" means local artisanal miner in Ghana. There is a Ghanaian law against galamsey mining on the operating concessions of the mining companies. In the exploration stage, galamsey activity is a main indicator of gold deposits for the companies. Some companies claim to be more worried about safety and liability of galamsey mining on their tracts than the theft of ore. FL ]
Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra), May 5, 2006, by Joseph Coomson
The National Coalition on Mining (NCOM) has said that atrocities committed against communities, the environment and the economy under the guise of law and order are deliberate acts by the state to offer protection for trans-national mining companies and to guarantee easy profitability at the expense of the human rights of its citizens, especially those living in mining communities.
Over the past two decades, communities in mining areas such as Tarkwa, Prestea, Obuasi, Kenyasi, Akote, Ada and Bolgatanga have suffered systematic violence and many of the acts that have resulted in the loss of property, severe injuries and deaths of innocent people.
Speaking at the launch of "Stop the violence in mining" campaign in Accra yesterday, Miss Gifty Djah, programme director of Abantu for Development and a member of the NCOM, said state agencies and mining companies have often set the conditions for violence in order to suppress and diminish the interests and concerns of local communities. Mining activities mostly take place in rural areas and the people who live in these areas have already been marginalized in terms of their access to quality education, health and other social and economic infrastructure.
She said mining activities have resulted in mass eviction and dislocation of whole communities, their environment the main source of livelihood destroyed and their total economic, social and political organization needlessly disrupted.
The programme Director said very little has been achieved from sustained mining boom despite gold prices hitting a 25-year high. The mining industry contributes only 5% to GDP and12% to revenue. The industry employs only 18,000 people and yet there is an escalating environmental and social cost externalized by the industry.
Loss of farmlands, clean environment, housing and fresh water, coupled with unsustained alternative sources of livelihood for most communities on the fringes of mines have been protested against. The protests take many, varied forms such as complaints, petitions and demonstrations calling the attention of the state and the mining companies to their survival, clean environments, and access to a minimum level of decent existence.
Narrating some incidence of brutalities, Miss Djah mentioned the following: that on February 2, 2006, soldiers acting on behalf of AngloGold Ashanti - Iduaprim Mine Limited shot four farmers in Teberebie; in Prestea, the communities demonstrated against Bogoso Gold Limited on July 13, 2005 and the company, in collaboration with the Ghana Military, opened fire on demonstrators, and seven people were wounded; on November 2, 2005, some farmers who embarked on a demonstration against Newmont's Akyem mine on compensation issues were greeted with gunshots and two people died.
"The invasion of communities by the military and police on the pretext of checking 'galamsey' in communities such as Sanso and Binsere in Obuasi are common. Awudu Mohamed was shot by a combined team of police, military and mines security on June 21, 2005 on allegation of embarking on 'galamsey'.
On September 29, 2005, there was a military/police and mine security swoop in Sanso in which a 70-year old woman was detained for eight days," she added.
The member of NCOM said Clement Kofi Baffoh of Aduaneye in Obuasi was arrested on June 9, 2004 by AngloGold Ashanti on allegations of 'galamsey' activities and died nine hours later.
Reading the speech on behalf of 13 mining non-governmental organisation, she said the naked force and violence against communities has permeated the extractive sector.
Based on the current democratization process, she said Ghanaians are entitled to question the legitimacy of the practice of deploying the state military and their use to offer protection for private companies.
The Programme Director said NCOM is demanding the state and the mining companies to stop the violence. It further called on the state to carry out public investigation into cases of violence against communities.
NCOM again demanded the state military not to be involved in mining projects and make the police accountable for their actions in accordance with their own rules.
"All laws applicable to the use of private securities and their relationship with the public should rigorously be enforced.
"We call on mining companies to respect the right of local communities, and the state must take its proper role of offering protection for the citizenry," she intimated.
Copyright © 2006 Ghanaian Chronicle.
