One Injured As Soldiers Chased Protesting Goldfields Workers

About 200 personnel of a joint police and military force have interrupted a protest by workers of Goldfields mines in Tarkwa, Western Region.

The workers were protesting against the management of Goldfields Ghana Limited to lay them off, contrary to the orders of an Accra High Court.

The court granted a stay of execution of a decision, which is expected to lead to job losses, pending the determination of the matter by the Appeals Court.

Speaking to Joy News, however, some workers say management of Goldfields have been coercing them with the military to sign the severance agreement.

“You don’t need me to sign a redundancy letter…in the full glare of the police. That is certainly condemnable,” Deputy General Secretary of the Mineworkers Union, Abdul Moomin-Gbana told News Desk on Joy News Channel.

Another worker who spoke on the programme under the condition of anonymity describes the atmosphere at Goldfields Monday morning as chaotic.

He reports that the military personnel there called for backup and the immediately the reinforcement arrived, they started shooting into the crowd of protestors.

“They have hit a lot of our colleagues. One man has been hit in the head and as at now I don’t know where he is, they took him away in a taxi,” he said.

Photo: John Kennedy, a worker of Goldfields Ghana Limited was shot with a rubber bullet.

Position of Goldfields
The management of Goldfields says the protestors only represent a small minority of the workers who are aggrieved with recent restructuring of the workforce.

In a communique, they stated that the military personnel have been there since last week to maintain order.

“Some military personnel were deployed at the main access gate to protect employees from outsiders and a small minority of employees who are opposed to the contract mining module who have attempted to forcibly disrupt the process,” the statement read in part.