Yesterday was yet another day of hope for the people of Obuasi but sorry to say that, that hope will forever be a mere hope, it won’t be different from what has been the situation for the past 100years. The reopening saw almost everyone that matters when it comes to Obuasi mine from politicians to traditional leaders, but the issue is, were they not around when the people of Obuasi had nothing as a mining community when there was a proper mining which at a point was the leading mining town in the world?.
Now these are the ironies of the whole thing.
1. They are telling us that the mine will last for about 22years, can 22years change the situation that 100years couldn’t get it right? Remember this is not a normal human life that God can make any change at any point in time, this is real physical logical analysis base on the quantity of gold available under the ground as against the quantity that was extracted in the past 100years
2. They are also telling us that the mine will employ about 2500 direct people. And I say this is no significant number that we should be talking about because the 100year period employed about 5000 and over people yet it didn’t change the state of Obuasi not to even talk about the population increase from district to municipal status of the town.
3. They are also saying that, there is a local content in terms of the employment opportunities, but the irony here is that they didn’t tell us the percentage of people the company should employ locally which could help us trace the situation.
4. I also didn’t hear how the profit was going to be shared with a clear road map on how the infrastructure
situation in obuasi was going to be sorted out but ironically I heard them mentioning an amount of 1.6billion dollars as the total amount of money that will be realise from the mine very interesting.
NOW DEMANDS,
We are calling on the people who matters in the Obuasi mine that is, the president, Asantehene, Adansi manhene, the company, the various MP’s in the Adansi area and their respective MMDCE’s to come out clear with what they have agreed with the company in terms of,
A, their plans for the youth in Obuasi
B, How they intend to eradicate the infrastructure deficit in Obuasi and it’s environs
C, what is the master plan for Obuasi after the mine has collapsed, so that we will not be complaining for hardship because the mine is no more.
D, How far is the government program one district one factory work in obuasi and it’s environs
E, The youths of Obuasi wants to see the whole contract between the government of Ghana and the company.
I call on every citizen of Obuasi especially the youth to come together to make sure we achieve these demands together as we say no to exploitation and demand what it dew us. No more exploitation, it is time for the youth to safeguard the situation for the generation yet unborn as the current older generation has proven not to care for us. #let stop Obuasi exploitation #let demand what it dew us #safe Obuasi now or never.
Convenor Nketia Mensa. You can reach me on 0546698453 if you want to be part of the campaign.