Ghana: Field Officer sheds more light on drowning in NEWMONT-created dam

Richard Adjei-Poku, Field Officer of Kenyasi-based non-governmental organisation Guards of the Earth and the Vulnerable, has shed more light on the drowning in a dam created by Newmont, a gold mining company, operating in the Kenyasi area, in the Brong Ahafo region. He was speaking to newsmen at a press conference facilitated by Third World Network Africa on 21 October.

He maintained how two of the villagers, in their attempt to cross a
so-called bridge, became victims of the negligence of Newmont Gold
Ghana Limited, which is the world's largest gold-producer.

The creation of the dam has disrupted community life by separating
villages that previously shared the water of the Subri River, which
has now been dammed. The effect is that people have to work seven
miles to visit the other side of the divided community or take their
chance by crossing the dam access.

In fact, access might just be a misnomer. The so-called route
consisted of heaps of sand deposited in the river Subri, separating
the Dokyikrom area from other communities. At some point, this
pseudo-bridge was going to create casualties—not to mention
fatalities.

Responding to questions by newsmen, Adjei-Poku suggested that these
recent deaths only served to highlight how critical it was for the
public to be aware of the operations of these multinational mining
companies, who had fallen foul of providing compensation for those
villagers whose lives they had made unsustainable.

Adjei-Poku argued that sustainability of the communities in which they
operate remains key as far as these companies were concerned.

Newmont has active mines in Canada, Bolivia, Australia, Indonesia—to
name but four. It has remained at the centre of much controversy by
civil society organizations working on mining ever since it came into
the country in 2003.