Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Hon. Collins Dauda
The dust has not yet settled for Newmont! Tempers are seriously flaring up at Yayaaso, a farming community in the New Abirem District of the Eastern Region, following the decision of Newmont, a multinational mining company, to undertake surface mining (dubbed “Akyem Project”), which has a 15-year life span, in the area.
Yayaaso is among 8 other communities including Adausena, Afosu, Ntronang, Mamanso and Hweakwae that would be adversely affected by the intended surface mining by Newmont, which came under heavy criticisms for its cyanide spillage at its Ahafo Mine in the Brong Ahafo Region last year October.
Consequently, the company was fined culpable and asked to pay GH¢7 million as compensation by a committee set up by the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, to investigate the cause of the spillage.
Yayaaso, which has more than 700 inhabitants, is expected to be re-located as a result of Newmont’s decision to dump approximately 396 million tones of waste rock and 116 million tones of ore and other waste mining products in the area.
It is also envisaged that Newmont’s Akyem Project will affect heritage and archeological resources that include scared sites, individual scared sites, royal cemeteries, and public cemeteries.
However, when Today visited Yayaaso over the weekend, the community members, who were highly infuriated about what they described as “attempts by Newmont to deny them of their daily bread,” also accused the company of massaging the mining law to satisfy their “bloated egos.”
The disposition of the indigenes, the paper can report, depicts that of combat army troops, waiting for their commander to give them the green light to attack.
At the end of what could best be described as an awkward job done by the so-called Crop Negotiation Committee (CNC), the company has agreed to pay farmers the following rates as compensation: an acre of cocoa – GH¢7,200; an acre of oranges – GH¢ 3,600; an acre of palm nut – GH¢4,200 and an acre of teak -GH¢13,600.
Per these figures which were announced by the CNC Friday, August 27, 2010 it means that Newmont and the committee did not take into account the life expectancy of the crops of the affected farmers, and rather used a flat rate to determine the compensations—a situation that flouts section 74 of the minerals and mining act.
The aggrieved community members disclosed that Newmont in a knee-jerk reaction to lure them to accept the intended compensations violated section 73 of the minerals and mining act to deny them the right to negotiate.
The mining act requires a company to directly negotiate with the affected person or farmer whose farmland (s) would be affected as a result of a mining project and that a person shall only offer a third party the power of attorney to bargain in case the affected person (s) is/are not in a position to do so.
They alleged that instead of Newmont dealing with them directly on individual basis, the CNC has been set up in the community with the primary objective of dealing with compensation matters on behalf of the affected farmers.
Though the farmers admitted that they played a part in the selection of the five people who represent them on the CNC, they were however quick to stress that they have lost confidence in them and thereby labeled the CNC members as “stooges of Newmont.”
But when Today reached the Communications Manager of Newmont Akyem Project, Mr. Oduro Kwarteng-Marfo, on phone, he intimated that CNC is autonomous of Newmont, adding those on the committee are selected by indigenes in the 9 communities.
He went on to assert that whatever compensation rates are agreed on by CNC are not imposed on the farmers.
Confirming that CNC last Friday released some crop compensation rates to farmers in the communities, Mr. Oduro Kwarteng-Marfo, explained that his company will meet with CNC to know the response of the farmers before any decision could be taken. That meeting took place yesterday at Yayaaso.
This notwithstanding, Mr. Oduro Kwarteng-Marfo, could not tell the paper whether Newmont will go ahead to implement the rates announced by CNC.
In an interview with Mr. Daniel Ntow, the Mmrantehene of Yayaaso, who also owns two (2) acres of teak, he riposted that until their demands are addressed by the authorities, they were not going to allow Newmont to go ahead with the project, adding that “this time around we will not allow Newmont to take us for a ride.”
He, however, could not comprehend why authorities look on whilst Newmont breaches the mining law with impunity, stressing that they were this time around going to fight tooth and nail for their rights.
“In fact, some of us are prepared to sacrifice our lives for this cause because it obvious that nobody is coming to our aid. The time is crucial and it is a matter of life and death because if we give our bonafide properties free of charge to Newmont I do not think posterity will forgive us,” Mr. Ntow furiously stated.
Mr. Kwame Denkyira Jnr., a youth leader of the area and an affected farmer, on his part disclosed that the community would be compelled to fight for their rights since there are no indications of the powers-that-be coming to their aid.
Affirming their intentions, he could not rule out dragging the matter to court to seek redress.
“We would use all available means to seek redress, but as I stand here I am unable to tell you (referring to these reporters) whether we would be going to court or not,” he asserted.
Continuing, Mr. Kwame Denkyira Snr., reiterated that if Newmont wants to peacefully prospect for gold in the area, it would be in their interest to engage the farmers individually, adding that anything short of that, would be met with “fierce resistance.”
STORY: STEPHEN DARKO & ATO KEELSON, BACK FROM YAYAASO, E/R
Please relocate YAYAASO at AFOSU