Ahafo residents cry foul over Newmont’s silence on gov’t’s white paper

Members of the Coalition of Concerned of Youth Five Communities Affected by Newmont’s mining activities in the Asutifi North District of the Brong Ahafo region are extremely worried about the loud silence by Newmont over recommendations made by the Brong Ahafo Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) in a White Paper issued almost a year ago.

On January 26, 2018, the Brong Ahafo RCC issued a White paper based on the recommendations of a 7-member committee set up to investigate a petition by the Coalition which is made up the youth of Kenyase Number One, Kenyase Number Two, Ntotroso, Gyedu and Wamahinso.

Some residents of these towns told modernghana.com in an interview that almost one year down the line, Newmont has virtually done nothing about any of the recommendations made by the White paper, a situation which they consider as gross disrespect to the people of the area and the state.

According to them, Newmont is enjoined by the White paper to partner the Asutifi North District Assembly to upgrade the Kenyase Health Centre into a District Hospital by the end of this year but this recommendation seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

In addition, the company is expected to construct what the white paper referred to as “legacy projects including the rehabilitation of town roads of the major towns” within the company’s catchment area.

“NGGL should fully implement provisions in the Newmont Ahafo Social responsibility Agreements regarding employment with copies of relevant reports submitted to the RCC and the other stakeholders by 31st December, 2018”, the white paper said in part.

Again Newmont was tasked not to solely rely on the Ahafo Social Responsibility Forum as the only means of engaging its stakeholders but develop a programme to have quarterly encounters and meetings with the communities, and furnish the RCC with copies of such interactions.

The Asutifi North District Assembly, on its part, was instructed by the White-paper to, among others, set up a scholarship scheme to support those indigenes who may be interested in pursuing courses in the mining sector to enable them take advantage of local opportunities.

One of the residents, Adusah Yakubu, poured out his frustrations to this paper about Newmont’s deliberate attempts not to adhere to the recommendations by government.

“Some aspects of the recommendations are technical and so we would need the services of a resource person to better explain them to us. We need some clarity on some of the things said in the recommendations”, he explained.

He said it was imperative for the communities to jointly look for a resource person to take them through the recommendations at cost of Newmont.

This, he said, would put them at a better position to monitor the progress being made in achieving the various targets set in the recommendations.

Other residents who spoke to modernghana.com expressed their reservations about the attitude of Newmont and the Asutifi North District Assembly in going by all that the White paper has asked them to do.

Newmont had not responded to an e-mail sent by this reporter on Thursday November 29, 2018, asking them for an update about how far the company has implemented the recommendations, at the time of filing this report on Saturday December 1, 2018.

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