-As Residents Demonstrate Against Mining Co.
Tension brewed in Prestea, a gold mining town in the Western Region yesterday when residents of the town staged over five hours demonstration against the Government and Golden Star Resources-a mining company operating in the area, whose activities they said is destroying communities?in the area.
According to the angry residents, four communities are?adversely affected by the activities of Golden Star Resources.
The action of the residents also follows reports on some military and police brutalities meted out to some residents of Prestea-Bondaye and Mbease-Nsuta, all in the?Western Region.
The residents who were led by the Divisional Chief of Himan-Prestea Nana Nbeboa Bra complained about the unavailability of jobs in the Region, especially the four communities, namely Prestea, Himan, Bondaye and Nsuta.
They are calling for the setting up of a commission?of enquiry to investigate the matter alleging that the Company has hired state security personnel to brutalized the residents.
??We are calling on president Mahama to use his office to investigate the matter since we have always been brutalized and shot at by fully-armed combined team of police and military personnel with the assistance of the GSBPL?s private security anytime we resisted against any ?illegal? mining activity in our towns,? the residents lamented.
Wielding placards with inscriptions ?Surface mining will kill us,? ?what are you doing with our mine?? ?Mahama, Prestea is not Afghanistan?, ?Bring back processing plant,? ?Prestea boys, yea bre,? ?No underground mine, no surface mine,? to register their displeasure, the demonstrators later presented a petition to the District Chief Executive (DCE) of ?Prestea Hunney-Valley, Wisdom Robert Kudjo to be forwarded to the.
The angry residents also expressed disappointment in the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (MLR), the Minerals Commission (MC,) the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Water Resources Commission (WRC) for aiding GSBPL to use dangerous chemicals in its operations.
?Irresponsible mining activities of GSBPL?, according to the residents, has polluted sixteen water bodies in Prestea and its adjoining communities.
According to the residents, they have made series attempts to get GSPBL help them solve the perennial water crisis facing the people in the various communities affected by its operations, but all the company has refused.
According to the Chief, the call on President to help solve the problem is to avoid any future clashes between the youth and the Company
Ahead of a public hearing to discuss the environmental impact assessment of the surface mining operations by GSPBL at Mbeasie Nsuta, the residents have asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure that GSPBL reclaim the Plant North Pit and fulfill other obligations.
Nana Nbeboa Bra lamented that work at Bondaye will destroy so many houses, meanwhile the people have no idea where they will be staying? and whether they will be any compensation for the residents as because those houses were constructed by the defunct Prestea Goldfields mines.
He indicated that the residents of Prestea fears that if GSPBL begins its surface mining operations at Mbiase Nsuta, it will never reopen the Prestea underground mines which they believe will create jobs for the youth and the people of Prestea and its environs.
He disclosed that the Company was given eight months from September 8, 2010 to backfill the mined out pit which it failed to do so they do not see the reason why the EPA is considering granting it another permit to operate a surface mining at Mbease Nsuta.
Meanwhile, the MP for the area, Francis Adu Kwesi Blay has expressed his support to the demonstration.
?after carefully reading through the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposed requirement for obtaining environmental permit from EPA by the company to begin its gold mining project at Prestea South Mbease-Nsuta, I have personally written to the Executive Director of EPA, indicating that I?have realized that some details of information about the whole project which affected communities needed in order to make informed decision is lacking,? the MP stated.
He noted that the measures outlined in the EIS document to minimize the impacts of blasting are too vague and wondered whether there were any safety and environmental measures in place to the address the impact.
Nana Nbeboa further noted that the bad nature of the roads in the area is also affecting business activities in the various communities.
