Wednesday, September 29, 2010

MINING COMPANY PROVIDES PROJECTS IN WR (PAGE 35, SEPT 29, 2010)

GOLD Fields Ghana (Tarkwa Mine) Limited has completed four projects for some communities within its catchment area in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality in the Western Region.
The US$892,000 projects were under the company’s second phase community projects programme for the 2010 financial year which ended in June, this year.
The projects include a classroom block for the Junior High School at Brahabebome, teachers’ quarters at Pepesa, nurses’ quarters for the Tarkwa Government Hospital and the renovation of the municipal labour office for the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Assembly.
The total amount so far spent on the community projects in the 2010 financial year is US$ 2.1 million (GH¢2.9 million).
The communities that benefited from the projects include Tarkwa, Samahu, Abekoase, Tebe, Huniso, Pepesa, Brahabobom, New Atuabo, Akoon and Awudua.
During the financial year under review, the mining company also implemented a cage culture fish project at Tarkwa, the Abekoase agribusiness project, the Awudua oil palm project and the Huniso agribusiness project.
The General Manager of Gold Fields Ghana, Mr Alfred Baku, announced these at the inauguration of some of the projects at Brahabebome.
He said the company’s flagship community development programme, the Sustainable Community Empowerment and Economic Development (SEED) Programme, which was a five year community development plan for the primary stakeholder communities, would end next month.
Mr Baku said results from a preliminary final evaluation were positive and that a few challenges identified were being addressed.
Mr Baku also said the scholarship scheme that was instituted in 2005/2006 academic year for brilliant, needy students in the communities to pursue studies at the vocational, senior, technical and tertiary levels of education was on course.
He said a total of 201 students had so far benefited from the scholarship scheme, adding that new beneficiaries would soon be selected for the scheme this academic year.
The general manager stated that the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) at Tarkwa was a unique educational facility in the country.
He said it was therefore, important that the university was continuously assisted to achieve its aim of becoming a centre of excellence in Africa.
Mr Baku said the last five years, the company had through the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation assisted the university to the tune of over US$ 340,000 on various projects, including the establishment of V-Sat Internet facility, acquisition of some geological equipment and the construction of a geological engineering laboratory.
He announced that an additional amount of US$ 100,000 had been donated by the foundation to help the university to complete the construction of the geological engineering laboratory.
He said the above showed the commitment of Gold Fields to ensuring that the only university of mines in Ghana indeed became a centre of excellence.
Mr Baku said the Tarkwa T&A football park, which was in very bad shape, was currently being rehabilitated by the foundation at the total cost of US$ 650,000.00.
He said the focus areas of the company from now till December 2010, would be the completion of the T&A park project, implementation of agribusiness projects, distribution of oil palm seedlings, rehabilitation of roads and wells in the catchment communities, implementation of community health programmes and a pilot programme for a small town water supply project.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, in an address read on his behalf, urged the beneficiary communities to make good use of the facilities and to take good care of them to prolong their life span.
He said the completion of the projects was an ample demonstration of the mutual understanding and co-operation between the mining company and the chiefs and people in the catchment area of the company.
Mr Aidoo expressed the hope that the commitment showed by Gold Fields Ghana in the development of communities within its catchment area would be emulated by other companies operating in the Western Region.

Friday, September 24, 2010

BE VIGILANT AGAINST INFILTRATION BY FRAUDSTERS — Osei-Bonsu cautions Rural Banks (PAGE 22, SEPT 24, 2010)

THE Managing Director of the ARB APEX Bank Limited, Mr Eric Osei-Bonsu, has cautioned management and board of directors of the rural and community banks (RCBS) in the country to be extra vigilant against the infiltration of fraudsters into the industry through students’ industrial attachment and national service.
He stated that some banks had lost huge sums of money through fraudulent manipulations by those fraudsters engaged under the pretext of being interns or national service persons.
He, therefore, emphasised that all rural and community banks must exercise due diligence and be circumspect in engaging students on industrial attachment and national service .
Mr Osei-Bonsu gave the caution in an address read on his behalf at the 22nd Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of the Fiaseman Rural Bank at Bogoso in the Western Region at the weekend.
He said the genuineness of those persons must be thoroughly checked before accepting them, and once they were accepted, care must be taken not to give them schedules where they could perpetrate fraud.
“Furthermore, the boards and management of rural and community banks with high inter-agency balances should ensure daily reconciliation between their head offices and agencies,” he added.
Mr Osei-Bonsu said that would also reduce the opportunity for fraud and thereby preserveshareholders’ equity at the banks .
He said apart from co-operative mergers to strengthen rural and community banks in the wake of stiff competition, one major area where the banks could develop and create a unique marketing niche for strength was the micro-finance business.
“Although almost all RCBs are operating some form of micro-finance, we are still a sleeping giant who must be awakened from our slumber and begin to run,” he said.
Mr Osei-Bonsu, therefore, called on the banks to think about micro-finance and promote it to sustain their banks.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

FIVE-YEAR DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR WESTERN REGION (PAGE 42, SEPT 16, 2010)

THE Western Regional Co-ordinating Council (WRCC) is to formulate a comprehensive five-year development plan and also set up a technical team to spearhead the implementation of the plan towards the rapid socio-economic transformation of the region.
The council has, however, appealed to the government to expedite action on the establishment of the Western Corridor Development Authority to supplement the efforts of the council towards the development of the region.
These were contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a three-day retreat held by officials of the WRCC, Members of Parliament, metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives, as well as representatives of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations and heads of public institutions at the Busua Beach Resort in the Ahanta West District.
The communiqué also called on the government, as a matter of urgency, to stop the granting of new mining licenses for companies to prospect in forest reserves and around water bodies in the region.
It further urged the government to revoke where possible, licenses already granted to all such companies.
“We wish to draw the government’s attention to the fact that the operations of illegal and “semi-illegal” mining companies (including foreign ones) in the forest reserves and around water bodies of the region are a source of great worry to its inhabitants because of the accompanying pollution and severe degradation of the environment,” it stated.
The communiqué called on the Water Resources Commission to live up to its statutory responsibility of regulating the use of water bodies through collaborative efforts with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to enforce the rules and regulations regarding the use of water bodies.
It also entreated the government to use the discovery of oil and gas in the region as the growth pole for its accelerated development and further suggested that all participating oil companies be encouraged to establish their main offices close to their area of operation in the region.
“We further entreat the government to expedite action on the extension of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to the petroleum sector and involve people of the Western Region more in discussions concerning proposed regulations on oil exploration and other oil industry activities,” the communiqué stated.
The communiqué appreciated efforts being made by the government to make potable water accessible to the people in the region through the implementation of Small Town Water Schemes.
However, it said the region’s accessibility to rural water supply was 44.2 per cent and that was far below the national average of 56 per cent.
The statement, therefore, appealed to the government to take steps to enable the region to achieve the national average of 56 per cent.

NZEMAMAANLE COUNCIL INSSTITUTES AWARDS SCHEME...To honour indegenes (PAGE 42, SEPT 16, 2010)

THE Nzemamaanle Council in the Western Region has instituted an award of excellence to honour its indigenes who have contributed immensely and performed creditably towards the development of Nzemaland.
Four prominent persons of Nzema received the maiden awards at this year’s Kundum festival of the chiefs and people of the Lower Axim Traditional Area at Axim.
The recipients were the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lt General Peter Augustine Blay, who received the Grand Order of Apolonia, Professor Kaku Shagari Nokoe, formerly of the University of Development Studies, who was awarded the Grand Order of Ankobra, Mr Noble Beyera Mensah, resident in Kumasi, received the Order of Apolonia, while Rev. Father Frank Nyan of the Word Alive Mission received the Order of Ankobra.
They also received a gold medal each and a citation.
The President of the Nzemamaanle Council, Awulae Annor Adjaye, who conferred the awards on the recipients, explained that the awards were to serve as a monumental model for the present and future generations of Nzema people.
He said the award would be conferred on Nzema people who performed creditably, every two years, to encourage them to contribute to the human resource development, as well as the general development of Nzemaland.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, said the government was committed to unity, reconciliation, peace and development.
He, therefore, appealed to the chiefs and people of Nzemaland to ensure that there was common understanding and unity among the people in the traditional area in order to bring about the needed development.
“Chieftaincy and land litigation are a sure recipe for stunted development,” he said, adding “All too often, some traditional rulers and king makers embroil entire areas in litigation to the detriment of all concerned”.
Mr Aidoo stated that the only fruit of prolonged chieftaincy and land litigation were poverty, misery and destruction.
He said, “The celebration of festivals is an occasion for reunion, stocktaking, self-examination, reconciliation and peace making”.
Mr Aidoo said one of the government’s development objectives was to devise and implement a dynamic cultural development programme that recognised social cohesion.
The regional minister said for that reason, the culture of Ghanaians should be mainstreamed in the nation’s social and economic development agenda.
The Omanhen of the Lower Axim Traditional Area and President of the Western Region House of Chiefs, Awulae Attibrukusu, urged the seven paramount chiefs in the Nzema area to join hands to think about the development of their human resource base.
He was not happy about the deplorable nature of the Axim town roads, and also complained about the lack of modern equipment at the Axim Government Hospital.
Lt. General Blay on behalf of the award winners commended the chiefs and people of Nzemaland for institutionalising the unique awards to honour their people.
He called for unity, peace and progress since litigation retarded progress, while peace brought progress and development.
Lt. General Blay said the awards should spur the youth of the area on to take their education seriously so that they could compete favourably in the job market.
He urged the festival planning committee not to limit the festival to only dancing, but also develop a comprehensive development plan that would facilitate the rapid socio-economic development of Nzemaland.
The Minister Chieftaincy and Culture, Mr Alexander Ahissan, commended the chiefs and people of Nzema for ensuring peace and unity in the area.
He stressed that peaceful environment was a contributory factor to the rapid development of every community.

AFRICARE GHANA LAUNCHES WATER PROJECT (PAGE 42, SEPT 16, 2010)

IN Ghana, less than four out of every 10 people have access to clean water. In terms of sanitation, it is even worse as less than two out of every 10 Ghanaians have access to good sanitation facilities.
The consequences of unsafe water and sanitation are dire, particularly for the poor.
The incidence of water related diseases such as diarrhoea over the last three years was 4-5 per cent and among the top five out-patient department (OPD) morbidity cases in the Wassa Amenfi West District in the Western Region, according to the District Health Management Team (DHMT) records.
These increase child mortality and decrease work productivity, while girls usually miss school due to lack of separate toilets for them and women, and girls spend hours every day walking long distances to fetch water.
According to the World Health Organisation, more than 300 million Africans lack access to clean water and up to half of the continent’s population at any one time suffers from diseases related to unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation.
It is to alleviate some of these problems that Africare Ghana, a charitable organisation, has launched an initiative, known as the “Obama Water Access Sanitation and Hygiene for Health Project” to increase access to safe water and improved sanitation.
The initiative is also aimed at promoting hygiene among the people by working with communities to develop water supply facilities and support the construction of household latrines.
The project will also develop the capacity of schools and communities to manage sanitation facilities while enhancing local participation in community led total sanitation and hygiene programmes.
It is designed as a pilot project to learn lessons that may be used in scaling up to other communities.
Early this year, President Barack Obama of the United States of America made a generous donation of US$ 100,000 to Africare in recognition of Africare’s development work in Africa.
Africare in return decided to use the donation, in partnership with the Wassa Amenfi West District Assembly, the Community Water and Sanitation Agency, the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, the World Bank and others, to contribute to the development of safe water and sanitation facilities for poor communities in the Wassa Amenfi West District.
This is in fulfilment of President Obama’s pledge and also in recognition of the determination and hard work of the government and people of the Wassa Amenfi West District to improve their hygiene status and quality of life.
Speaking at the launch of the project at Amoaman, a farming community in the Wassa Amenfi West District in the Western Region, the Country Representative of Africare Ghana, Dr Kwasi Ampofo said in addition, Africare was working hard to leverage at least US$1 million under it’s “Ghana Clean Water Challenge Campaign” to scale up the provision of clean water and sanitation facilities to more communities in the district.
He said Africare would wish to work with other stakeholders to implement the project in support of community initiatives and work with them to achieve their goals in water access, sanitation and hygiene for health and to improve their well-being and prosperity.
Dr Ampofo stated that the project would start with three communities and work with them to install water facilities for communities and schools, install latrines for health clinics and schools, and support the construction of household latrines and encourage total sanitation within communities, using the community led total sanitation approaches.
Dr Ampofo said the implementation strategy for the Obama Water Access Sanitation and Hygiene for Health Project centred on community engagement and education to build awareness and promote behaviour change, strengthening of community capacity to develop its own safe water and sanitation infrastructure, and incentives for the adoption of community-led and school-led total sanitation practices.
A Water and Sanitation Specialist of the World Bank, Mr Emmanuel Nkrumah, stated that there was hardly any dispute that water supply and sanitation played a crucial role in socio-economic development of any country.
He said regular water supply and good sanitation, as well as hygiene were fundamental to improved quality of life and were key prerequisite for human and economic development.
He stated that the challenge did not only call for more funding, but also important that it called for alternative approaches and innovations in strategies to ensure sustainability of interventions made.
Mr Nkrumah said although support by the World Bank and other donors had significantly contributed to the steady progress in improving coverage of water supply, reliability of water supply was rather poor partly as a result of inadequate management of the infrastructure, adding “Sanitation continues to lag far behind in coverage”.
The Wassa Amenfi West District Chief Executive, Mr Samuel Victor K. Meisu said education, health, water and sanitation were the main challenges confronting the district assembly.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

COMMISSION RECEIVES 33,000 SUBMISSIONS (SPREAD, SEPT 14, 2010)

THE Constitution Review Commission (CRC) has so far received over 33,000 submissions from six regions concerning aspects of the 1992 Republican Constitution that need to be retained and further developed, amended or repealed.
The Commission has already organised open hearings and mini-consultations in the Upper West, Upper East, Northern, Brong Ahafo, Ashanti and Eastern regions.
The Chairman of the Commission, Professor Albert K. Fiadjoe, announced this at the opening ceremony of a three-day regional level hearing and mini-consultations for the Western Region at the Takoradi Polytechnic.
He explained that the Commission was organising the three-day programme to grapple with the multiplicity of issues surrounding the management of the region’s natural resources.
He said all other programmes pertaining to the review of the constitution, which were organised in the other regions, were held for two days.
Professor Fiadjoe said participation was excellent in all the regions already visited and that it was a clear and adequate opportunity for Ghanaians to identify and discuss the strength, as well as the weaknesses, of the 1992 Constitution.
He said the Commission would visit the communities and districts throughout the country to provide an opportunity to those people who did not have the chance to make their submissions at the regional level hearings.
He said members of the public could lodge their submissions at the various regional co-ordinating councils, regional and district offices of the National Commission for Civic Education, as well as the chiefs’ palaces.
Professor Fiadjoe announced that the Commission would hold special mini-consultations in the Western Region on the oil and gas industry to offer the opportunity for people and stakeholders to discuss the development of the oil and gas industry, as well as the management of the revenue that would be generated from the sector.
One of the Commissioners, Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II, said the constitutional review was a very important exercise since it would create the opportunity for Ghanaians to make inputs into the review of the supreme law of the country.
He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to make good use of the opportunity and make useful contributions towards the amendment of the constitution.

Monday, September 6, 2010

REPEAL DACF ACT TO ALLOW MMDCES DETERMINE NEEDS (PAGE 13, SEPT 6, 2010)

AN Associate Dean of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Nana Bright Oduro-Kwateng, has called for the repeal of a section of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) Act that allows the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to determine which portions of the approved development plan is to be financed from the fund.
He explained that this will enable the assemblies to decide what they want to use their common fund for on the basis of their own determined priorities.
He noted that under the guise of “Guidelines for the utilisation of the common fund”, that section of the Act had worked to make the common fund releases assume the character of “tied grants”.
Nana Oduro-Kwateng also said the MPs Constituency Common Fund, as an adjunct to the District Assemblies Common Fund, must be de-linked and a separate MPs Constituency Common Fund to be funded out of the Consolidated Fund and administered by the Parliamentary Service established.
This was contained in a paper he presented at a retreat organised by the Western Regional Coordinating Council for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), as well as Members of Parliament (MPs) and heads of departments in the region at Busua.
Speaking on the topic: “Building understanding of the roles and relationship between MMDCEs and MPs”, he said the re-centralisation of the education, health, fire, forestry and Game and Wildlife sectors under the Local Government Service Act was a step backwards towards efforts to decentralise the public service.
He said the private sector could not be an engine of growth if “we do not have an efficient public sector”.
Nana Oduro-Kwateng noted that political stability, supported by social cohesion and tolerance had provided a favourable environment for economic development.
“Despite such progress, there are significant governance challenges, including weak central and local level governance, institutional power that is centralised and excessively concentrated in the executive and inefficient public sector”, he pointed out.
On the local level, he said three interlocking governance challenges were likely to dominate the country’s immediate future, adding “These are improving service delivery to citizens, expanding public participation in governance and managing Ghana’s natural resources”.
The associate dean said a strong democracy required two important elements which included popular participation at the local level and popular participation at the national level.
The two, he explained, were inter-connected and that if popular participation at the grass roots continued to decline in the country, then ultimately the national body politics would not be immune from the consequences.
Nana Oduro-Kwateng said flourishing grass roots were only likely where local people understood what local government represented in terms of both policy and resources, and where they could hold local government accountable for its performance.
“An efficient local government system is the only way to tackle our development problems”, he emphasised.

PARLIAMENT RATIFIES LI ON UNIT COMMITTEES (PAGE 13, SEPT 6, 2010)

PARLIAMENT has passed a Legislative Instrument (LI) 1967 which indicates that a unit committee shall be equivalent to an electoral area in the country.
As a result, the number of unit committees in the country ( over 15,000), will be reduced to 5,000 to be at par with the number of electoral areas in the country for this year’s district level elections.
The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, announced this at a retreat organised by the Western Regional Coordinating Council (WRCC) for metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives, Members of Parliament, traditional rulers and heads of ministries, departments and agencies, as well as non-governmental organisations and private sector business representatives in the region at the Busua Beach Resort.
The three-day retreat was to examine the economic problems, explore opportunities in the region, help determine and shape the future of the region’s development, and also discuss how to partner the private sector, especially with regard to the oil and gas industry, to ensure harmonious regional development.
Mr Chireh said the first five people would be elected to form a unit committee after the elections and that there would be no government appointees on the unit committees.
He added that the Electoral Commission would pass a Constitutional Instrument (CI) to effect the changes.
He noted that publicity of the district-level elections was very low and stressed the need to intensify public education on the elections.
He said support was being sought from other agencies to assist the Electoral Commission and the National Commission for Civic Education to intensify public education on the elections and suggested that women should be encouraged to actively participate in the elections.
He stressed the need for constant dialogue and consultations between the metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) and Members of Parliament (MPs), as well as information sharing and mutual respect.
He said the MMDCEs and MPs were to move the development of the districts and constituencies forward and that this could be done when peace was promoted.
“You must be speaking with one voice when it comes to development and poverty reduction,” he said.
The Deputy Minister of Energy, Mr Emmanuel Kofi Armah Buah, said 865 communities in the Western Region were to benefit from electricity supply.
He explained that 67 per cent of communities in the country had access to electricity and that it was expected to increase to 80 per cent by 2015 and 100 per cent by 2020.
Mr Buah said currently, the power generation capacity of the country was 2,000 megawatts, while projection was 5,000 megawatts by 2015.
He said the Ministry of Energy, in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industries, was to establish a small and medium-scale office in Takoradi to assist the private sector to take advantage of the emerging oil and gas industry.
He said the University of Mines and Technology in Tarkwa, the Takoradi Polytechnic and the Kikam Technical Institute were being assisted to offer petroleum related courses.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, noted that development was a shared responsibility and that it behoved all stakeholders, particularly the MPs and MMDCEs to be committed to the achievement of the agenda for developing their respective areas.
“We should not delude ourselves into thinking that because oil has been discovered in commercial quantities here our infrastructural challenges will be surmounted”, he stressed.
He emphasised that it was time for people in the region to discard their partisan cloaks and adopt a united approach to issues that confronted them as a people and demand what they deserved, adding “We need cooperation to meet the development aspirations of our people”.
The regional minister stressed the need to clearly define a distinctive direction for the region to spearhead its development agenda.

Friday, September 3, 2010

EPA HOLDS PUBLIC HEARING ON GOLD MINING PROJECT (PAGE 22, SEPT 3, 2010)

GOLD mining in the Western Region continues to affect the lives of people in the communities located in the various concessions both positively and negatively.
The farms of the affected people are either destroyed or the entire community is resettled to make way for the mining operations.
Sometimes, the affected people raise objection to some of the mining projects due to the negative effects the project would have on them, while others embrace it, as a result of the contribution the mining project would make to the general development of the people in the communities.
 To create a platform for the affected people to raise their concerns, objection or otherwise, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), holds public hearing on an environmental impact statement prepared by the mining company concerned to iron out all conflicts and differences before a final licence is issued to the company to start its new operations.
It is in consonance with this that the EPA organised a public hearing on a proposed Ajopa Gold Mining Project by AngloGold Ashanti (Iduapriem Mine) Limited at Pepesa in the Prestea-Huni Valley District in the Western Region to make way for the operation of the new mine.
At the public hearing, people in the nine farming communities located in the mining concession unanimously supported the start of the project.
 However, the farmers raised some concerns which management of AngloGold Ashanti (Iduapriem Mine) has agreed to address.
 The communities, namely Wangarakrom, Badukrom, Nkyemia, Alaala, Tokunanso, Owusukrom, Huniso, Pepesa and Ajopa, did not raise any objection to the project.
Three of the villages, namely Alaala, Tokunanso and Owusukrom which are within the immediate catchment area of the mine also agreed to be resettled at a place of their choice.
Some of the concerns raised included the effects of blasting and dust on the people’s health, as well as the possible pollution of the main source of drinking water which takes its source from the Ajopa Ridge where the mining operation will be concentrated.
They also called for the general development of the affected villages including the extension of electricity to Pepesa and the development of oil palm plantation for the communities as being done by other mining companies in the area.
Some of the farmers complained about discrepancies in the payment of compensation as some of them were paid less than they expected.
Nana Kingsley Awudu of Wangarakrom and Nana Hamidu Haruna of Badukrom complained that the villages were located between the two concessions of AngloGold Ashanti (Iduapriem Mine) and Gold Fields Ghana Limited and as such, the villages were not getting assistance from the two companies.
They buttressed their point with the fact that the two villages were not found on the map of the Ajopa Mining Project, while all the other villages could be located on the map.
The Ajopa Gold Mining Project covers 48 square kilometres 25 per cent out of which would be disturbed.
An estimated 345,000 ounces of gold is expected to be mined within a two-year period.
Already, AngloGold Ashanti (Iduapriem Mine) has paid a total of GH¢1,158,085 as compensation, while additional GH¢2,679,000.74 would be paid to 731 farmers.
The company has also paid GH¢483,000.09 to farmers whose farms were on the haul road.
A total of 375 households will be impacted, comprising three hamlets on the haul road.
The Mining Manager of AngloGold Ashanti (Iduapriem Mine), Dr E. Baffour Boakye explained that water suppression would be used to reduce fugitive dust in the environment, haul and access roads.
He said the company would monitor dust in the communities and at the project site, while top soil would be stockpiled and managed for future rehabilitation.
Dr Boakye said there would be visual assessment of erosion and analysis of run-off water quality as a preventive measure, and that the company would carry out monitoring of vibration and air blast and redesign blasting if blasting levels were high.
He said there would be improvement and maintenance of the existing community access roads.














The Prestea-Huni Valley District Chief Executive, Mr Robert Wisdom Cudjoe, said all the gold mining companies in the district were the district assembly’s partners in development.
He urged the companies to be transparent in their operations, especially in the area of employment, attachment and scholarship.
Mr Cudjoe advised the farmers to use the compensation paid to them to establish lucrative ventures and not to spend them on unprofitable activities.
The Deputy Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Head of Mining, Mr Ransford Sekyi, explained that when gold mining started around 1888 in the country, there was nothing such as public hearing.
He said the Environmental Act, EPA Act 490, December 1994, as well as the Legislative Instrument (LI) on Environmental Impact Assessment Regulation enjoined all mining companies to adhere to the mining laws.
He therefore, urged the people in the mining communities to study the environmental impact assessment statement to enable them to make inputs.
Mr Sekyi said no compensation would be paid to unaffected farms in the concession.
The Managing Director of AngloGold Ashanti (Iduapriem Mine), Mr Billy Mawasha, said the company was committed to its community development values.
He called on the people in the catchment area to support the project as they had supported other projects to enable the company to also support them in their development programmes.

PREVENT CHILDREN FROM GOING TO DRINKING BARS (PAGE 22, SEPT 3, 2010)

PARENTS have been called upon to be vigilant to ensure that their children under 18 years of age do not go to drinking bars and other places where they may be exposed to immoral activities.
The Western Regional Director of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Mr John Hackman, who made the call, said parental duties were very crucial since parental neglect and irresponsibility were the basis of child abuse which had placed many children in difficult situations.
Mr Hackman made the call at a camp meeting organised by the Children’s Ministry Department of the Assemblies of God Church for children of the church in the southern part of the Western Region at the Ahantaman Senior High School.
About 200 children of the church attended the five-day camp meeting which was on the theme: “Seeking the double portion of the spirit for kingdom service.”
Mr Hackman said children had challenging times due to globalisation and information technology.
He stated that children were exposed to happenings in other parts of the world which were either positive or negative.
“It is, therefore, incumbent on parents or adults to ensure that children are insulated from foreign cultures and immoral influences,” he emphasised.
Clarifying some misconception about the Rights of the Child, Mr Hackman explained that, right of the child did not offer the children the right to misbehave or rebel against just principles.
Mr Hackman urged the children to understand that no right was absolute and that “rights go hand-in-hand with duties and responsibilities.”
“If a child has a right to food, he or she also has the responsibility not to waste food; if a child has a right to education, he or she also has responsibility to ensure that he goes to school regularly or take school work seriously,” he stated.
Mr Hackman said other responsibilities of the child towards the family included doing small tasks at home, such as laying the table, washing dishes, fetching water, maintaining cleanliness of the neighbourhood, among others.
He said what was irresponsible was to allow the child to do any work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it was carried out was likely to affect the health, safety, education and morals of the child.
He also advised them not to be in haste to engage in activities which were the preserve of adults.
 Mr Hackman expressed concern about some deviant behaviour of some children, especially Internet fraud, watching pornographic materials, playing truancy, disobedience, and desire for money, indiscipline, hooliganism, drug abuse, alcoholism, examination malpractice, indecent dressing and other anti-social activities that were detrimental to their future well-being.
He said children who engaged in those negative acts lost their potentials and became social misfits.

GMC PROVIDES PROJECTS TO WR COMMUNITIES (PAGE 22, SEPT 3, 2010)

THE Ghana Manganese Company (GMC) has provided five projects for some communities in the Esuoso Divisional Stool Council which fall in its catchment area in the Tarkwa/Nsuaem Municipality.
The GH¢80,597.48 projects comprising a community centre each at Tarkwa Banso and Jerusalem and a three-unit classroom block at Enyinase are to improve the living condition of the people.
The rest of the projects are a 10-seater water-closet public place of convenience at Tamso and four-unit teachers’ quarters at Akyem to provide conducive accommodation for teachers to enable them to fully utilise contact hours with schoolchildren.
The company has also constructed a bore hole at Nsuta Zongo to provide potable water for the community.
Inaugurating the projects, the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mrs Christina Kobina, urged people in the beneficiary communities to see the projects as their own and take good care of them to help increase their life span.
She also advised them not to politicise the projects since they belonged to all members of the beneficiary communities.
Mrs Kobina further urged the communities to live peacefully with the company to enable it to contribute meaningfully to their development efforts.
She urged the company to support the youth employment programme by giving on the job training to the youth in its catchment area.
The Human Resource and Administrative Manager of GMC, Mr Wisdom Adjei Mensah, said last year, the company approved seven infrastructure projects, adding that five of them were ready for inauguration while two were ongoing.
He stated that those developments were the result of the peaceful co-existence between the communities and the mine.
Mr Adjei Mensah commended the community leaders and the Esuoso Divisional Stool Council, the umbrella body of the 17 catchment communities for the effort made so far.
The Gyaasehene of the Esuoso Divisional Stool Council, Nana Asare Kojo said since the company started the community assistance project programme about nine years ago, it had contributed meaningfully to the development of the communities in the catchment area.
He said the projects, which had been provided to the communities had become their property so they should ensure their regular maintenance.
The assembly member for Tarkwa Banso, Mr Francis Archer, commended the Ghana Manganese Company for the numerous assistance offered the communities.
He, however, urged the company to continue to ensure that the living conditions of the people were improved.

PAC WONT ACCEPT EXCUSES — MANU (PAGE 12, SEPT 3, 2010)

THE Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) will not accept excuses from officials of the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies that they were not at post between 2001 and 2004 when queries are raised against audit reports for that period.
The Acting Chairman of PAC, Mr Kwaku Agyemang Manu, explained that queries were raised against reports of the assemblies as an institution and not the individual officers of the assemblies.
“You answer queries that have been raised against the assemblies, not individuals,” he explained.
He was speaking at the opening session of a public sitting of the PAC to hear audit reports covering 2001 to 2004 from metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the Western and Central Regions as well as the Western and Central Regional Co-ordinating Councils in Takoradi.
The forum was attended by metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives and their co-ordinating directors, district finance officers, internal auditors, presiding members as well as some members of the assemblies.
He noted that if the metropolitan, municipal and district audit report implementation committees (ARIC) were working effectively, there would not be any excuse.
He reminded the assemblies that there was a directive from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to the effect that all metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies should set up audit report implementation committees to implement audit reports of the assemblies.
Mr Agyemang Manu said the PAC, just as other committees in Parliament, worked as non-partisan, adding “That is the spirit of working to develop the country“.
“We are working in accordance with the financial administration of the country to deepen the financial management of the country and to have value for money,” he said.
The Deputy Western Regional Minister, Ms Betty Busumtwi-Sam, noted that most MMDAs had not been diligent in the management of funds allocated to them and that millions of cedis had been lost through improper financial management.
She said the PAC sitting in the region to hear audit reports from the assemblies should serve as a wake-up call to all those who managed public funds to ensure that they were accounted for properly.
The Central Regional Minister, Mrs Ama Benyiwa Doe, said spending money and accounting for such money was a constitutional requirement.
She said along side the constitutional requirement, the audit report implementation committees was another structure to ensure proper accountability but many MMDAs did not have them in place.
She urged the Regional Co-ordinating Councils to ensure that queries raised against the MMDAs were corrected and that they were not repeated.