March 11, 2016

Mining Communities call on CHRAJ to sanction Anglo Gold Ashanti over Human Rights Abuses
Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot

Accra, May 27, Ghanadot - Mining Communities of the Adansi and Amansie affected by the operations of the Anglo Gold Ashanti (AGA), Obuasi Mine in the Ashanti Region of Ghana are calling on the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to sanction the company over human rights abuses committed against the communities.

Communities also called on the Commission as a matter of urgency to implement the recommendations contained in the State of Human Rights in Mining Communities in Ghana Report 2008, so that people can get justice for the atrocities they and their relatives have suffered from the nefarious activities of the company.

The Spokesperson of the Affected Communities, Anthony Ekyem in a press statement further called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to release the report on its investigations into the pollution of River Fena that they conducted as quickly as possible.

He stressed that “As we speak, the EPA claims it has forwarded the report to Obuasi. We however do not know which institution in the town received the report. We smell something fishy so they should give us a copy of the report”.

The inhabitants of the communities expressed their utter disappointment with the way Anglo Gold Ashanti has treated them over the past twenty years.

According to them, the company has been mining gold in the Adansi and Amansie areas since 1897. Within this period, so many ounces of gold have been mined in the company’s Obuasi operations.

Indeed, at a point in time, the Obuasi mine gained the enviable accolade of being the single richest gold mine in the world, a feat most mines in the world would love to achieve. In spite of the over a century of gold mining, Obuasi continues to remain the jewel in the crown of the Anglo Gold Ashanti group as a result of the rich reserves of gold that are still found in the Obuasi Deeps.

The Obuasi operations of AngloGold Ashanti affect almost a hundred communities in three districts, namely Amansie Central, Amansie East and Obuasi Municipality.

Liberalisation of Mining in Ghana: In the 1980s, following prescriptions of the Bretton Woods Institutions, namely International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, the then Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government undertook extensive reforms in the mining sector.

These reforms saw the proliferation of multinational mining companies in the country, all of them undertaking surface mining. We wish to emphasise that prior to this period, the mode of mining was primarily underground. Underground mining did not disturb our ability to undertake our livelihoods. In fact, most of us continued to do our farming activities side by side with the mines. Conflicts were minimal in those days.

Anthony Ekyem's statement claim is as follows:

Our woes started when surface mining intensified in the 1980s. Within this period, the then Ashanti Goldfields Corporation secured an International Finance Corporation loan facility to undertake the Ashanti Mine Expansion Project (AMEP).

Problems of Surface Mining in Obuasi:

Surface mining has really been a terror to those of us living in the Obuasi area. With your permission, I would like to enumerate some of the problems that surface mining has brought about in the Obuasi area”.

Loss of farmlands:

Anglo Gold Ashanti, in the late 1980s, annexed large tracts of land ostensibly to mine gold. In accordance with provisions in the then PNDCL 153, the company was required to pay compensation for the lands that it took from the people.

However, the company in most cases paid very little compensation to a lot of the farmers. For a greater number of these farmers, compensation paid has never been fair, adequate and prompt in accordance with the 1992 Constitution. Laughable though this may seem, some farmers who lost large acreages of farmlands were compensated with empty barrels, crates of egg, gallons of kerosene and bars of key soap. Is it fair for cocoa farmers whose sweat and toil have led the country to its present level of development to be treated with disdain like this? As we talk now, some farmers have still not been paid any compensation for the destruction of their farms and other property.

We further find it insulting, the decision by AngloGold Ashanti to give an almost 10 miles square land that it took from the Amamom, Anyankyirem, Akatakyieso and Adaase communities to its staff to rear cattle. This large tract of land has been turned into a grazing land for cattle belonging to officials of the company, in flagrant violation of the legal requirement to return the land to its owners. Why should the owners of the land be landless, whiles officials of the company find it convenient to accommodate their cattle, they asked.

Pollution of River Bodies:

Surface mining in Obuasi has led to the pollution of all the major river bodies in Adansi and Amansie. Hitherto used for washing, farming, cooking, recreation and worship, these water bodies have lost their essence and people can no longer use them. AngloGold Ashanti has either buried these water bodies with mine waste or polluted them with poisonous chemicals like cyanide. We recall with pain and trepidation, the pollution of River Fena, a major river body used by almost all the communities in the Amansie area in 1998. This singular act of wickedness on the part of the company has rendered River Fena almost useless for domestic and other purposes.

Furthermore, River Fena is host to one of the most powerful deities in our communities and adherents to this deity periodically meet to perform rituals to pacify it. Unfortunately, devotees to this deity have been denied their right to worship by the company. There are credible reports that some people died from unsuspectingly drinking water from the River Fena. There is this classic case of a pregnant woman from Nyamebekyere community who died instantly after using water from the river. If this is not sheer wickedness, then we do not know what it can be.

As if to communicate to the communities that the pollution of River Fena 11 years ago is child’s play, the company in February this year yet again, polluted River Fena. Just like they did eleven years ago, Anglo Gold Ashanti is still fabricating this vicious but preposterous lie that the fishes in River Fena died not from cyanide spillage but from a disturbance in the river bed that caused sand to rise to the surface of the river! We have lived with the Fena River for years.

How can sand lead to the death of fish in the river? Again, anything the company says exposes it as a serial liar, bent on using every means available to it to maintain its profit motives, even if it means destroying the only source of drinking water of thousands of people.

Human Rights Abuses:

The Obuasi operations of Anglo Gold Ashanti have seen some of the most horrendous human rights abuses the country has ever witnessed. In furtherance of its objective of getting gold at all cost, the company has been employing very unorthodox methods to deal with people it alleges encroach on its concession. We recount the case of Amos Abu, a young man from Sanso who was arrested for picking stones from a moving truck belonging to the company. After beating him to pulp, he was handcuffed and guard dogs released on him. They chewed off several parts of his body.

There is also the case of little Sandra whose Daddy was beaten up by AngloGold Ashanti security, leading to his death later at the AGA Hospital. Sandra’s mother was then pregnant with her. We also recall the case of Awudu Mohammed, the 25 year old farmer from Sanso who was shot by a combined team of AngloGold Ashanti and state security for encroaching on the company’s concession. The company claimed he sustained the injuries from the spikes on the fence he was attempting to jump over. This lie was later dispelled by the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital that confirmed that Awudu’s wounds could only have come from gunshot.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as we talk with you now, Awudu is in a critical condition as a result of the effects of the gunshot wounds he sustained. Though he should have been at the hospital receiving specialist attention, he is in the house, gradually dying because his poor parents cannot afford the huge medical bills.

WACAM – AngloGold Ashanti Dialogue:

In 2003, the company expressed the desire to enter into a dialogue with communities affected by its operations. We saw this as a goodwill gesture that needed to be reciprocated. We therefore gave our mandate to Wassa Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) to enter into the process on our behalf because of the capacity challenges that we faced.

They are however disappointed at the turn of events. After a few meetings, the company has always had excuse to break off the dialogue process at their own convenience. The company has mistaken our silence and patience as a sign of weakness.

This has clearly indicated to us that Anglo Gold Ashanti is not interested in genuinely dialoguing with communities who are living in abject poverty because of their own operations. Whilst we have had the patience to wait and maintain faith in the process, they have treated us with scorn and contempt.

We wish to emphatically state that we have instructed WACAM to formally withdraw from the dialogue process since the company is not interested in pursuing genuine dialogue with the view to addressing our problems. We have therefore resolved to use every available legal means to seek redress for our grievances.

We have noticed that the company has been going round the communities asking them to write out a list of projects that they want the company to provide for them. We find this very hypocritical since for the past twenty years the company has refused to provide the most basic of all amenities to the communities. Whiles we were left to drink contaminated water; the company spent thousands of dollars to provide a basketball court for the Achimota School, a suburb of Accra.

As far as we know, Anglo Gold does not mine gold at Achimota. If they really want to be portrayed as good corporate citizen, then they must first satisfy their statutory responsibilities towards the communities.

In their interactions with the chiefs and other elders of the communities, they have been giving the impression that WACAM has been stalling their development process. Nothing can be farther from the truth.

Indeed, it is WACAM that has championed our cause from the 1990s till date. But for WACAM’s intervention, our plight would have remained unnoticed. We wish to stress that we have exercised our constitutional right to join WACAM and allow them to represent us in all negotiations. Just as we have exercised that right, other people in the communities also have a right not to join WACAM.

If AngloGold Ashanti genuinely wants to do something for the communities, they need to address the legacy problems that have remained unresolved for the past twenty years. After addressing these legacy problems then we can resolve to move forward. We can only begin to talk about dialogue when Anglo Gold Ashanti shows a real commitment to dialogue.

Ghanadot