Miners destroy Kwabeng water bodies
About eight kilometres from Anyinam, off the main Accra-Kumasi Highway, lies the ancient town of Kwabeng, the district capital of Atiwa.
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The town, situated within dense forest and rich in gold and timber, has, as expected, attracted both small-scale and illegal miners (galamsey), as well as unauthorised loggers whose activities continue to threaten the livelihood of the people because of the destructive nature of their operations.
While the loggers, most of whom are illegal chainsaw operators, indiscriminately fell trees, destroying the forest cover, the small-scale miners, particularly X-tra Gold and the illegal miners, have been polluting water bodies and destroying the vegetation cover.
The water bodies, including the rivers Awusu, Kutuwani, Abugyisu and other streams which are the only sources of drinking water for the estimated 15,000 population of the town and its surrounding villages, have become unsuitable for drinking.
This is because gold miners use cyanide and mercury, which are poisonous chemicals, in their activities and pollute the waters.
To make potable water available for the people, a reservoir has been built on the outskirts of the town, which distributes treated water pumped from the Akrusu River through standpipes. However, most often, the flow of water from the river to the reservoir is blocked by X’tra Gold, which needs the water to facilitate its activities.
As a result, the town is usually without water for the number of days that the river is blocked, leaving the people with no other choice than to rely on other rivers, rivulets or streams, such as the Kutuwani and the Abugyisu, which are also heavily polluted.
Another worrying factor is that X-tra Gold is said to have leased some of its concessions to the illegal miners, some of them being operated by Chinese nationals who are using heavy equipment and engaged in large-scale mining.
The operations of X’tra Gold, the Chinese, as well as their Ghanaian collaborators and other illegal miners, are threatening the existence of the people, who in the near future would not have any source of good drinking water.
Health implications
The residents’ dependence on water from the polluted rivers and streams has led to many of them contracting water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea and skin rashes, raising the concern of the Atiwa District Directorate of the Ghana Health Service.
Its director, Mr Tei Djamgba, who expressed concern about the prevalence of such diseases, indicated that because the vegetation cover is also depleting at an alarming rate and depriving the people of a good harvest, there was the possibility of human life expectancy reducing to as low as 40 years within the area.
He, however, indicated that his outfit was doing its best in the treatment of such diseases and counselling people on their diets.
“The people of Kwabeng have a big nutrition and health problem due to the destruction of the water bodies and the vegetation cover by these miners and unless there is a total ban on their activities, life in the town and its surrounding villages will be short in the near future”, Mr Djamgba said.
Opinion leaders
In respect of the level of pollution of the water bodies, an opinion leader, Alhaji Mustapha Boateng, an indigene of Kwabeng, has taken up the burden of trying to stop the illegal miners from operating.
Alhaji Boateng, with the support of the people, has occasionally been visiting the sites of the illegal miners to drum home the need for them to acquire licences, and operate in a manner that would not pollute water bodies or degrade the environment. His efforts have so far not been successful because the miners often ignore his plea or advice.
“We are not saying that nobody should mine gold here, but they should make sure they do not pollute our rivers, which are the only sources of drinking water, or degrade the land to deprive generations of arable land for sustenance as farming is the mainstay in this area,” Alhaji Mustapha Boateng stated.
Alhaji Mustapha Boateng, who, together with some opinion leaders and youth, accompanied the Daily Graphic team to some of the mining sites last Saturday to witness the wanton destruction of food crops, cocoa farms and pollution of the water bodies, wondered how long such a worrying situation would continue.
At one of the sites near Kwabeng, Chinese illegal miners had constructed a dwelling place for themselves and one Kofi Asumeng popularly called Man J.K., who was said to be one of the local mining kingpins, was seen directing some young men busily at work.
When questioned about their operations in the area which had resulted in the pollution of the River Awusu, he boldly proclaimed “I gave out the land,” and tried to justify the presence of the illegal miners, especially the Chinese. The Chinese, however, were not around but vehicles, a Pickup with registration number GN2529-Z and a private saloon car with the number GE 9953-12 and which was said to belong to them, were parked in front of their dwelling place.
At another site, on a concession in the Atiwa Forest, said to be owned by a lady, whose name was only given as Kate and operated by her husband, one Kofi, there were lots of pits with muddy water.
A middle-aged man, who was on guard duty at the site, on seeing the Graphic team and the opinion leaders, including Alhaji Mustapha approaching, pulled out a gun from a parked private car. He, however, threw the weapon back into the private car after realising that security personnel were escorting the team and then gave a number of explanations to justify their work. In his opinion, there was nothing wrong with their operations, but his explanations did not go down well with the team.
DCE & MP also show concern
The political leaders in the Atiwa District have also shown concern about the wanton destruction of the land and pollution of the water bodies at Kwabeng and its environs and occasionally made fiery speeches and statements condemning the illegal miners, albeit yielding no positive results.
In one of such fiery speeches when addressing the Atiwa District Assembly last week, the Member of Parliament for Atiwa West, Mr Kwasi Amoako Atta, launched a verbal attack on the illegal miners who he indicated must be stopped.
The assembly members also had their share of haranguing, with the warning to them that assisting the illegal miners or personally engaging in illegal mining with the explanation that they (assembly members) had been mandated to cater for the welfare of people in their communities was prohibited.
To the MP, the failure of assembly members to assist in driving out the illegal miners would defeat the purpose for which they had been elected.
Mr Amoako Atta said the pollution of the water bodies and degradation of the environment had the tendency of negatively affecting the water table underground from which water was pumped through wells or boreholes and called on the assembly members, traditional rulers and opinion leaders, as well as the security services to unite and deal with the issue.
“We are in crisis and all of you should help deal with the issue, especially by assisting to ward off the illegal Chinese miners, who are using sophisticated equipment to massively destroy the environment and pollute our sources of drinking water”, he said.
Mr Amoako Atta’s comments followed that of the District Chief Executive, Mr Emmanuel Atta Twum, who made a similar call on the assembly members to help deal with the issue.
Mr Atta Twum told the assembly members that the assembly had drawn up its own programme to arrest the situation and warned that anybody found to have assisted the illegal miners, especially the Chinese or found to have been involved in any activity that would compromise measures being taken on the issue, would have him or herself to blame.
Youth agitation and Nana Twini’s response
The continued operation of X’tra Gold and the illegal miners in the area, despite persistent calls for them to either stop their activities or obtain licences to operate so that they would not pollute water bodies or destroy the vegetation cover, agitated the youth .
The youth, who said they were not satisfied with the manner the Regent of the town, Nana Kofi Adjei Twini, was handling the issue, indicated that if the situation persisted, they would have no other option than to physically confront the illegal miners.
But in a sharp rebuttal, Nana Adjei Twini said he and his elders in the town had done what was expected for the people and that their efforts were not only to mitigate the effects of the mining, but also to ensure that X’tra Gold honoured its social responsibility to make life worth living for the inhabitants.
According to Nana Adjei Twini, an agreement under which X’tra Gold was to pay GHȻ200,000 to the people outright as compensation, as well as another monthly payment of GHȻ25,000 to be used to construct a community guest house and factory to produce sachet water for the people in the town was turned down by the youth.
He said GHȻ100,000 part payment made by X’tra Gold in that respect, had to be returned to the company although it continued to carry out its activities, and indicated that it was not the best.
“X’tra Gold actually made part payment of GHȻ100,000 into the Oman Account at the Kwabeng Community Bank, but we had to return it because some of the elders and a section of the youth did not agree,” Nana Adjei Twini stated.
X’tra Gold ignores Okyeman’s order
Such a serious situation has compelled the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council to prevail on X’tra Gold to end its operations in the area forthwith.
A letter signed by the Adontenhene of Akyem Abuakwa, Daasebre Boama Darko, dated May 20, 2013 also requested X’tra Gold to ensure that all companies working for it to cease operations.
The letter, which was sent after an Okyeman Council meeting at Ofori Panin Fie at Kyebi on May 16, stated that such a decision had to be taken as a result of X’tra Gold’s refusal to numerous calls by Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin to wind up its activities, which had not been complied with, thus showing disrespect to the Okyenhene and Okyeman.
Some of the mining companies operating under the X’tra Gold umbrella, which had been asked by Okyeman Council to fold up their activities, are: Kagyam Mining Limited, Motion Mining Limited and MOS Mining Limited; all of which are sited near Kwabeng.
Although the letter had been sent to the police, regional and district political heads in the area as well as other relevant bodies, the illegal miners are continuing their activities with impunity, to the extent that they are digging very close to the compounds of some educational institutions in the town such as the Kwabeng SHS and the A.M.E Zion JHS.
While a vast polluted lake has been formed near the Kwabeng SHS, a number of pits have also been created near the A.M.E. Zion JHS, which pose danger to the students and pupils since they could drown during this rainy season when the pits are full of muddy water and difficult to notice.
While the Chinese could not be reached because they had gone into hiding, officials of X’tra Gold, when contacted at their Kwabeng operational headquarters on two occasions, refused to comment and directed the Daily Graphic to their director, one Mr Victor Nkansah in Accra, who also refused to talk.
X’tra Gold’s disregard of Okyeman Council’s directive ordering the company and its associates to stop work has been of grave concern to the people, whose only hope now rests with the new measures being taken by President John Dramani Mahama to deal with the situation.
X’tra Gold refuses to talk
Under the normal circumstance, X’tra Gold should have stated its side of the story but on three occasions when Daily Graphic contacted their office at Kwabeng, the company’s officials simply refused to comment on the issue.
With the formation of regional and district security task forces or committees to deal with the issue, it is hoped that the Atiwa District Security Task Force would be well-equipped and positioned to effectively tackle the problem once and for all.
By A. Kofoya Tetteh/Ghana
Writer’s email: [email protected]
