'Starving' The Goose That Lays The Golden Egg: The Case Of Prestea

When I had the call in 2010 that suggested my next move will be in the Wassa area, there were only two towns which came to mind. Those were Tarkwa and Prestea. These towns were popular due to the number of mining companies that were there and how people migrated to the areas in search of mining jobs.

Those days, anyone who returned from Tarkwa or Prestea was seen or likened to be someone who had just arrived from the States. They regarded them as wealthy people just because they had returned from where they mine gold. I remember, if you were a man and you told any woman you were an employee in one of the mining companies, you needed not to talk more because she had already accepted your proposal by just the hearing of “I am a miner”

These towns were and are still rich in natural resources. Many residents in the various towns had the opportunity to work with the mining companies. Traders never lacked sellers for their goods. Clearly, economic activities were so booming in the two popular mining towns in the Western Region. I clearly remember my big brother coming home with provisions whenever he had his off days as a worker of the then State Gold Mining Corporation in Prestea, which Barnex of South Africa took over in 1996.

By putting food on the table of many and serving as a job arena for millions of Ghanaians, many wish to see the town to go with its popularity. Prestea was very much popular than Tarkwa in the 90s, due to the underground mine which employed many Ghanaians.

My call to duty was rather in a town which had been named as the capital for the newly created Prestea Huni-Valley District (then), Bogoso. Initially, I didn’t like the idea of my employers since my mind was set up just for only two towns which for me were vibrant and beautiful than where I was. But upon several talks and few friends I made, I fell in love with Bogoso and lived here till now.

On the 2^nd of January, 2011 I decided to go to Prestea to see things for myself the town which has caught my attention for years. As a mining centre, my expectations were very high till I had the shock of my life. One of the things that put me off and thanked my stars that it was good I wasn’t going to work in that town was how filthy the streets looked. I returned to Bogoso on the same untarred road linking the two twin towns thinking about so many things.

But I later felt things would be better, since it was within a new district created by former President John Kuffuor in 2008. May this year (2018), is my eighth year in the now Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality. In these years spent here, the Prestea town which has produced gold for Ghana close or over hundred years now continuous to be under developed.

The town which is populated more than the other towns in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality is a ground for politicians. They see the area as a fertile ground to plant the seed of victory. Win votes from Prestea and you have won the constituency.

The two major political parties in Ghana have had their turns of promising the people or Prestea of good roads, jobs for the boys and protection since they felt, the military men brought in by the mining company operating there, Golden Star Resources, were harassing them whenever the boys were seen holding sack that contained stones that would be grinded to find gold. They accused the military men of extorting monies from them.

Years spent in the municipality, I can’t point at any development the town has seen.

In the year 2014, after the government had failed to redeem its promises made to the chiefs and people of Prestea of reviving the underground mine, employ the teeming home loitering youth in the area and subsequently fix their roads, the community held a mammoth demonstration against Golden Star Mining Limited, the then Member of Parliament in the area Francis Kwesi Adu Blay Kwoffie and his government. Indeed, that was a major demonstration by the entire community. Until that day, I had not experienced such demonstration where members of the community were so committed in fighting a course with the young and old joining.

One of the placards read, “Prestea is not Afghanistan”. Which basically meant, Prestea needed development and could not be in a situation where nothing appeared to work but poor roads and destruction everywhere. More placards had the inscription “Prestea Boys abr3”, “Prestea-Himan deserves better roads” and Himan- Prestea yempinee ooo”

The frustration that had boiled in them for a longer time pushed them to at least bare some teeth to the authorities that it was time to hear them out. With his traditional regalia, the Divisional Chief of Himan Nana Nteboa Pra IV with his elders led the demonstration through the streets of Prestea drumming home their demands to the mining company and most especially political authorities.

They felt the mining company together with the government had deceived them by not reviving the Prestea Underground Mine that was closed down in 2002 for some maintenance, of which the management of the mining firm themselves communicated that, they had finished and ready for operations. They also felt the community had been cheated and neglected for long. Because upon all the gold that is extracted from there, their roads, schools and health facilities are in a very deplorable state.

After a series of news stories carried on the various media houses that drew attention from the authorities to their plight, one contractor called Asabea Construction Limited, was contracted to rehabilitate the Prestea town roads and the stretch between Bogoso and Prestea. But as I write now, the contractor hasn’t completed the rehabilitation of the roads after more than four years, leaving the town roads deteriorating day by day.

Now one cannot sell or walk on the streets of Prestea whenever there are rains or a sunshine. You either walk on your toes after a rainfall or walk with your nose covered to prevent dust entering your nose on a sunny day. Clearly, there is no day one would walk in the streets of Prestea and be comfortable. The current undeveloped situation in Prestea has also affected economic activities with most shops at the shoulders of the road closed down since the things stocked there become dusty and get no buyer.

One will still ask the question, why would a town like Prestea which produced and produces more gold, accommodated and accommodates many people would suffer like the way it is currently. This is more like the goose that lays the golden egg being starved. I keep asking myself, is it that the leadership of the area are unable to have their voices heard up there to have their grievances addressed for the community to be developed for generations yet unborn or Prestea will continue to be a place for politicians but after they win their votes then the same politicians neglect them, just because they have gotten what they wanted? Prestea is being likened to the lady who needs all the sugar coated words from a man to give in. Thinking that, her man is caring. But after the man has gotten what he wants, he dumps her.

The situation of Prestea township is seen as a hopeless community which will not see better roads and other development, despite the natural resources on their land coupled with deception from politicians.

As at December 31, 2014, the indicated gold reserve or resources at the Prestea Underground Mine were estimated to be 1.32 million tonnes (Mt) grading 14.82g/t Au and containing 630,000oz of gold. Whiles the surface deposits are estimated to contain proven and probable mineral reserves of 1.69Mt of ore at an average grade of 2.24g/t with the contained gold estimated to be 122,000oz.

Is Prestea going to remain like that as more gold is expected to be extracted from the area.

Unlike other countries, which their cities are developed with the greater portion of the monies gotten from the natural resources from there and to beautify the place, Prestea is not like that. The town is undeveloped. The situation is clearly noticed in the people when you speak to those who have lived all their lives in the town.

Whiles children in Prestea are schooling under poor conditions of school buildings on the land of gold, other towns in some part of the world are being developed by their natural resource they produced.

In 2007, Ghana Mine workers’ raised concerns over deplorable state of mining communities in Ghana and how Ghana must focus on those areas to bring more development. The concern was basically that, the mining sector had attracted billions of dollars in the past, however the strides have not reflected in the lives and developmental status of those mining communities.

Based on that, the union called on the government to put a major portion of minerals royalties into a fund to finance developmental projects in the mining communities while mining companies also increase the contributions towards the communities. The fund which was suggested to be managed by a technical team made up of Municipal, Metropolitan or District Assemblies and community leaders would be based on Guinea Model, where a substantial portion or royalties paid stay in the mining communities earmarked for identified projects with rigid balance scoreboard to serve as checks on the outcome.

That was a brilliant suggestion by the Ghana Mine Workers’ Union. Prestea and other mining communities in Ghana would have been better 10 years down the lane if it was considered, however the situation remains the same as Ghana and its leaders engage more in talkshops but less in execution.

San Francisco, Johannesburg and Kalgoorlie in Australia. Just to mention a few, are cities which have been developed by natural resources extracted from their lands.

These cities will welcome you with beautiful edifices, beautiful streets and beautiful tourism centres that when visited will leave you with unforgettable memories. Kalgoorlie which has its population of a little over 40,000, just like Prestea, is greatly benefiting from its natural resources, affecting lives and every sector of the town positively.

Why can’t same be done to Prestea town after 100 years of extracting gold from the area. Until leaders of the town push for development more aggressively and politicians turn from their deceiving tongues, the town will not see development and will continue to remain as it is now.

The only hospital which was built 89 years ago by the then State Mining firm to serve its workers and now serves the entire municipality, has seen little or no facelift due to the geographical location. It is situated on a hill which is about 1km from the Prestea township with patience having to climb that steep hill on an untarred road before accessing healthcare. It has no major space around it for even expansion. There is no plan for relocation of the facility or a new one to be built for Prestea town.

For me, the Corporate Social Responsibilities by Golden Star Bogoso/Prestea Mines which seems the Prestea township depend on to bring some developmental relief, are not enough to put Prestea in a better position than its current state.

More needs to be done. Focus has to go there. It is about time politicians stopped using the area for their political gains. It is about time maybe, chiefs, opinion leaders and all pressure groups stood up and advocate for better infrastructure that will befit a town that has produced gold for the country more than 100 years. But is it that the leaders of the town haven’t tried to push enough for development of their town from past governments or it is a sheer negligence on the part of governments? Prestea needs to be better than this.

Prestea Town Road

Prestea Town Road 2