The Adansihene Opagyakotwere Bonsra Afriyie II has said AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine is in its current predicament as a result of corruption and indiscipline.
Addressing members of a newly formed pressure group in Adansi, Adansiman Progressive Association in his Palace Thursday afternoon, the Adansihene bemoaned that due to corruption and indiscipline a lot of otherwise good ventures have been truncated in Ghana. He alleged that in 2004 RANGOLD were supposed to have merged with AngloGold of South Africa.
“But some of our own people made sure AngloGold had the nod. Though I’m told that RANGOLD put in the best bid among the two companies, because people were going after their self interest AngloGold were chosen and as a result, this is where we all find ourselves now”.
“So when it emerged that AGA had to retrench its workers, I met the company and asked them why they didn’t anticipate the current crisis to enable them put in place the necessary remedial measures?”
The answer the company gave, according to the Adansihene wasn’t “satisfactory enough”.
“Anything they say doesn’t add up. One thing I want to make clear to you is that after about 120 years of mining, what is still left underground in terms of untapped ore is almost the same as what has been mined so far. The Obuasi mine has a future. Adansi has a future. Our only problem is how to get the right investors to mine to ensure the total development of Obuasi and Adansi”.
He also cautioned prospective employees of the mine against paying monies to unscrupulous persons with the hopes of facilitating their employment in the mine because so far as he is concerned AngloGold Ashanti will not be resuming operations anytime soon”.
“When I came back from the US what I heard was that AngloGold will re-open in June –July so people were just rushing to my Office with their résumés for me to facilitate their employment but I tell them I haven’t heard anything”.
“ Before I left for the States, we met them (AGA) in Accra and they made us aware that there were some environmental issues they needed to address, regarding their old tailings dams. If those issues were not addressed, there was no way EPA would give them a permit to resume operations”
“Even funds they need to inject into the next phase of operations are not readily available so the President of the Republic has since been in constant talks with RANDGOLD to partner the company”.
One other area that Nana expressed his displeasure with was the Obuasi Community Trust Fund. He observed that as a board member of the Community Trust Fund he has noticed that all members on the board are non-indigenes. He therefore promised to put his foot down very soon to correct this “anomaly”. “I have told them that they should ensure the next Manager of the Trust Fund should be an indigene”.
‘I know people will be calling me names for taking these bold decisions but so long as what I’m saying will benefit Adansiman I don’t care”, he concluded.