BAD POLITICAL LEADERSHIP DEPRIVING MINING COMMUNITIES

BACKGROUND

I fear to be part of a generation that once sat down aloof and unconcerned, and watched aliens or crooks take away virtually everything that ever belonged to them. This is because I will feel unimportant to tell the next generation refreshing fairy-tales about Ghana’s natural resources when in actual fact, there is nothing worthwhile to point at as an achievement that we as a nation gained through our abundance natural resources. This and many other reasons explain why I write authoritatively on wrongful exploitation of our natural resources by aliens or crooks (mining companies) which brings about bad environmental problems which they care less about. As a matter of fact, I don’t even write to please anybody or group of people, but to effect positive change because that is my utmost objective as a writer and journalist.

Our political leaders are supposed to be ashamed of themselves for failing to protect our environment because any severe damage to the natural habitat invariably affect the lives of humans often referred to as first class animals. But wait a minute! Or have they been “bought” or “corrupted” by these crook multinationals? In fact, it did not come to me as a surprise when one politician who seems to know everything and even calls himself a rights activist nicknamed the President of the republic “Professor Do Little”. If the nation’s current collection of political leaders who are the managers of our natural resources do not lead by (EXAMPLE) in order to avoid ever being labeled as a bunch of mediocre or crooks, then they should walk their talk and spare us with the frequent rhetorics. Let’s ask ourselves, why are the memories of our First President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah still fresh in the minds of Ghanaians, Africans and even the Western World? It is simply because of his great achievements and loyalty to the people of Ghana and the Continent of Africa. Indeed there is a saying that “It is only a Stupid Apprentice who does not want to aspire to become a master”. I can thus confidently state that almost all our political heads are victims or clear examples of the “stupid apprentice”. They only preach virtue and practice vices. In fact, there is nothing so important than being hailed and exalted as a saint many years after your death and that’s what Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, our first President is enjoying now.

But it saddens my heart most of the time when I see our politicians or “poli-trick-tians” as the Rastafarians will call them if only they are tricking us, doing very little or nothing at all to make things better for the majority of Ghanaians. Constantly, they demand for what will further make their stomachs grow bigger (ex-gratia or increment in salaries/allowances) and their families to feel comfortable (better education, high-quality balanced meals, and other goodies one can think of) whiles the downtrodden becomes more susceptible to diseases, hunger and poverty and anything above worst. Now non-Ghanaians who previously wished Ghana was their country of birth, will soon begin to think otherwise, not because Dr. Nkrumah is no longer regarded as a hero or a legend, but because of the bad political leadership that we have had as a nation in the last two or three decades.                 

I am not deviating from the reason for which I am writing this article but just an attempt to tell you the reader, what our leaders are failing to do in all these years with regards to proper management of our natural resources. The current President of the Republic of Ghana cannot continue to pretend as if all is well in the various mining communities in the country when indeed community members are seriously crying over the seizure and destruction of their farmlands, forest reserves, cemeteries, sacred groves, pollution of water bodies through cyanide spillage, air pollution through huge blast of rocks, acid drainage, pollution of underground water, endangering the lives of animal species, etc.

If the legendary former South African President Nelson Mandela, who is the second most respected African personality in contemporary times after Dr. Nkrumah and his immediate successor Dr. Thabo Mbeki, had stuck in their presidential seats in their offices, obviously the mining city of Johannesburg as well as other towns in South Africa wouldn’t have been beautiful as they are now and many years to come. But because they regularly moved out of their offices to the mining areas just to ensure that the best practices are/were adhered to, and also insisted that a country that emerged from colonial struggle and apatite, and was trying to rebuild itself got a fair share of the gold and other natural resources due them, South Africa has become the economic power house of Africa.

Those who came after these two leaders have maintained the standard and even trying to improve upon what they had been bequeathed with and that is what the downtrodden and concerned Ghanaians like me is expecting our politicians to be doing. Build upon the enormous achievements of Dr. Nkrumah and stop destroying the solid foundations that he laid for us to start-off and develop as a nation with the large deposits of gold, diamond, bauxite, manganese, clinker, salt, oil, gas, acreages of timber plantations and forest reserves, etc. The President as well as other power brokers should not sit down aloof and unconcerned and watch these mining companies like Newmont, Azumah,  Anglogold Ashanti, etc take away everything that belong to Ghanaians.

THE TOOTHLESS MINING LAW

Frankly speaking, Ghana’s mining law is too weak and instead of our politicians strengthening such laws, they are in one way or the other interested in what they will get from these companies. Is it true that one of the mining giants in the country gave our Minister of Mines Alhaji Collins Dauda 20,000 dollars during the funeral ceremony of his late mother? Well it is a rumour, but in every rumour there is some great amount of TRUTH. At least, they (our politicians) should think of the generation they are leading and those yet unborn.

About 30 years ago (1980’s) when Ghana decided to yield to the dictates of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the so called Economic Recovery Programme, one of the conditions was for Ghana to open up its mining sector to foreign investors like Newmont, Anglogold, just to mention a few, to come and take everything away like they are doing now. The World Bank influenced the drafting of the PNDC Law 153 at the time and that law only served the interest of mining companies to the disadvantage of our country. Thank God Civil Society groups including the media spoke against it and the law was reviewed. But all the same, the reviewed law which then became the Mineral and Mining Act (ACT 703) could not achieve much result for Ghana. This is because, while Civil Society Organisations were struggling for a law that would be fair to Ghanaians and the mining communities, the multinationals materialistically advocated for a law that would enable them to continue to take the bigger part of the booty.

The law is such that it gives so many incentives to the mining companies and as a result, they do not pay tax or import duties on anything they bring into the country. Customs Officers cannot even have access to the amount of gold at the disposal of these companies and tax them. And I ask myself, can they do this in South Africa where some of them are operating or even in their parent countries? Obviously NO! The most annoying aspect of it is that, they even lodge all the millions of dollars into foreign accounts instead of keeping them in Ghana. Besides, the law says they should pay royalties of only 3% to 6% and so they choose to pay 3%. Can anybody blame them? If you have a company like Newmont Ghana which has been exempted from paying Value Added Tax and can only pay royalties of 3%, why wouldn’t they hesitate to spill chemicals into water bodies? After all they are rich and can pay any amount of fine leveled against them. Could you just imagine that Newmont and the other big companies were crying foul when the Minister of Finance Dr. Kwabena Duffour some few months ago, said he was going to increase the State’s minimum royalties to 6% from the current 3%?             

PERILOUS CONDITIONS CREATED BY MINING COMPANIES

Let me share some of the perilous problems the mining companies are creating for Ghana and her beloved citizens. For instance, Prestea Goldmines alone has abandoned 45 pits and people in communities at Prestea fall into these “pit-traps” and that is the end of them. Some of these pits are 500 metres deep and about 2.5 to 7 kilometres long, yet the companies call them small pits. They don’t care and our politicians (President and his ministers) only sit in the comfort of their cruising offices but do not care about the trauma facing the local people. The pits will be there forever because they can never be reclaimed and animals and human beings will continue to fall inside and they will affect wildlife and serve as breeding ground for mosquitoes and reptiles.

In mining communities such as Teberebie and Kenyasi in the Western and Bono Ahafo Regions respectively, Anglogold Ashanti Limited and Newmont Ghana Gold Limited have made live unbearable for community members. They have wanton disregard for human rights. At Teberebie, Anglogold Ashanti has been dumping its waste rocks on farms belonging to poor community members on the basis of the bogus Mineral and Mining Act which has no clear benchmarks in terms of compensation for victims. People like Mr. Anthony Badu are being shot when they attempt to navigate through other areas to their farms because of the dumped waste rocks blocking the road leading to their farms. Mr. Badu is now crippled and has lost his livelihood as a result, according to the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM). At Kenyasi, a major cocoa growing area, Newmont is mining and as a result is destroying cocoa trees and paying just pittance to the farmers. This negative activity has caused the community so much starvation and food price hikes. It is believed that a cocoa tree can yield half a bag of cocoa a year. Besides, cocoa can be planted when old ones die but gold is not like that because it is not a renewable natural resource. When it finishes, you leave the area and go somewhere else to explore again. Newmont pays less than GH¢7.00 for a Cocoa tree that can yield about half a bag of Cocoa beans per year and can last for about 40 years. If Ghana were having good political leadership, none of these will happen.

A research report on the Determination of Heavy Metals in Water Bodies in Tarkwa and Obuasi Mining Areas has revealed that, the degradation of the land, pollution of water bodies as well as the air in these mining communities posed serious health hazards to the people, who have been found to be experiencing various illnesses such as skin and chest diseases including Tuberculoses. Diseases such as diarrhea, malaria, typhoid fever, dizziness and persistent headaches were found to be prevalent in the areas of the study.

The research also found out that most of the rivers in the mining areas of Obuasi and Tarkwa were polluted with elevated levels of hazardous chemicals such as arsenic, manganese, cadmium, iron, copper, mercury, zinc and lead which were far above the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Ghana Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) permissible levels. For instance, the River Nyam in Obuasi, was found to have arsenic concentration of 13.56 milligrams per litre (mg/L) as against 0.01 mg/L required by the WHO and 1.0 mg/L as required by the EPA.

It revealed that the River Asuakoo had 22.72 mg/L as against 0.4mg/L manganese concentration required under WHO permissible guideline value, adding that similar high levels of these chemicals were found in all the rivers and streams tested in the study areas.

The report further stated that manganese, lead and mercury, which were found in the water bodies, were neuro-toxic metals that could affect the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of children if they existed in high levels in their drinking water. So one will ask, what is all this noise about educating young ones because they are the future of this country? Aren’t our politicians using us as sacrificial lambs?

In all, 400 water samples made up of 200 from Obuasi and 200 from Tarkwa areas were collected between May and September 2008, and analyzed separately for toxic chemicals including arsenic, manganese, cadmium, iron, copper, mercury, zinc and lead.

Wexford Ghana Limited at Akyempim in the Western Region, a subsidiary of Bogoso Gold Limited and owned by Golden Star Resources spilled cyanide into River Kubekro on Tuesday 11th January 2005. That was the second time in less than three months that companies owned by Golden Star Resources spilled chemicals into the river that is serving several thousands of people from more than three communities. For example, Bogoso Gold Limited did not provide adequate medical care to the community people who mistakenly drank the water and ate poisoned fishes in a cyanide spillage of October 2004. They got away with such a serious crime committed and the EPA had to take the responsibility for the medical care of people affected by the cyanide spillage. Many companies in Ghana like AngloGold Ashanti, Newmont, Abosso Goldfields Limited, Bogoso Gold Limited etc have committed heinous crimes against poor, innocent rural people and their chiefs in the name of development. Newmont will pay as much as 100 million dollars or more aside compensations if it discharges cyanide anyhow in the USA. But if you remember, not too long ago this company was asked to pay just a small amount of 7 million dollars when it deliberately discharged that dangerous chemical into the Subri River. Folks, the list of problems caused by mining companies are endless. We can’t fight these companies if our politicians continue to allow themselves to be “bought” or “corrupted” and worst of it all, refuse to amend the mining law.

WHY THE MAD RUSH BY MINING COMPANIES TO GHANA?

It is said that Ghana has some of the biggest mining reserves in the world with production of the “yellow rock” rising over 10 percent a year. No wonder there is serious jostling or scramble for concessions with over 200 mining companies reported to be looking for gold in the country. And it’s all so because, the so called reviewed mining law has given generous incentives and exemptions to mining companies to the detriment of Ghanaians.

A research conducted by the United Nations trade agency UNCTAD, has revealed that Ghana benefits very little from mining and exportation of gold which accounts for only 5% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The World Bank which forced Ghana to allow the mining companies to invade Ghana by guiding it to draft weak laws that will enable them take away everything and create problems for Ghanaians, now says the mining sector’s true benefits to Ghana are unclear, after reviewing the mining companies low tax deals and their high import costs.

But renowned international private audit firm, PriceWaterHouseCoopers is claiming in a research report that mining companies rather contribute significantly to the public finances of their host countries.

The study it conducted involved 22 companies in the global mining industry and the full contributions they made to public finances in 2008.  

In the report, the mining companies reported a turnover of 62.9 billion dollars of which wages and salaries paid to employees was $ 6 billion dollars whilst total contribution to governments was over $10 billion dollars. 

With this basis, a company like Newmont says mining companies have been vindicated over criticisms that their contributions are woefully disproportional to their revenues.

PriceWaterHouseCoopers certainly cannot be telling the truth and its claims can never convince the poor Ghanaian farmer who is demonstrating everyday because his or her farm has been taken over by irresponsible and insensitive mining company of a sort (excuse my language). There are audit firms in Ghana owned by genuine Ghanaians. If the mining companies (foreign) want, they should allow those companies to audit their accounts instead of trying to make poor farmers believe they are indeed helping to build Ghana.

CONCLUSION:

It is obvious that the loud noise our politicians are making in the form of advocacy towards addressing the problems of global warming and climate change conditions in Ghana is just pure lip service and deceit. The mining companies are cutting down trees which bring rainfall, destroying the fertile soils for agricultural purposes, maiming and murdering people because they are demanding for their rights, polluting water bodies and the air through cyanide spillage and rock blasts, endangering the lives of animal species, causing desertification, etc. The mining law is weak and it is the fault of our politicians, and our politicians are bad, simply because they are greedy. Ghana is far from achieving the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations and expected to be achieved by 2015. This is because, if mining companies are pulling down the homes of humans, cemeteries, sacred grooves or farms, certainly they will not hesitate to pull down schools, hospitals, mortuaries, etc. There are set goals for Ghana to achieve under education, health and among other areas. But as Ghana tries to combat malaria, mining companies are creating pits which serve as breeding ground for mosquitoes to cause malaria that will lead to the death of children, mothers and expectant ones. Children will drop out of school because of nonexistent of schools or due to the inability of parents to pay school fees since their farms are being taken away without any compensation. Mothers and children will die of strange illnesses after drinking unsuspecting polluted water. Rural folks will die of hunger and poverty will force them to steal. If an adult pretends not to see the wrongdoings of an insolent child then when they are talking about bad people that adult is certainly among.     

By Joseph Ziem

Environmental Journalist

Ziemjoseph@yahoo.com