Company orders police/military attacks on community

Victim! Nabot Gyeatuo Kyenkyenku

Poste on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday April 19, 2011.
Concerned citizens of Saamang, a farming community near Osino in Akyem Abuakwa area of the Eastern Region, are calling for investigations into how an illegal mining company used the security agencies to unleash terror on them without any provocation.

According to residents, police officers and their military counterparts who wielded weapons, together with security men of Solar Mining Company, stormed Saamang on March 22, 2011 at night and brutalized residents for protesting against the destruction of their farmlands and other sources of livelihood by the company.

Nabot Gyeatuo Kyenkyenku, an Assembly Member of Saamang in the Fanteakwa District, who is leading a campaign to resist illegal mining in the area, told DAILY GUIDE that he was arrested and molested by the arresting team and was particularly manhandled by the Solar Mining Company security personnel, claiming that some of them wore military fatigues and wielded guns and axes.

He said in all 11 residents including two children aged 12 were arrested and kept in the Anyinam Police Cell, claiming that the police allegedly poured cold water on the floor before asking them to sleep there.

He mentioned Kwame Jones and Yaw Afrifa as some of the people who sustained injuries as a result of the brutalization.

Mr. Gyeatuo said it took the intervention of the Anyinam District Police Commander, Reverend Opoku and the District BNI officer to secure their release, commending the officers for their respect for human rights.

“We embarked on a peaceful demonstration on February 18, 2011 to draw the attention of the authorities to the spate of destruction of our farms by Solar Mining and after about a month the company brought in the security agencies and its own security to teach us a lesson.

“They entered the town at about 8:30 pm and started shooting indiscriminately, moving from house to house to arrest people. They used an axe to break down my door and picked me up whilst my wife and children screamed.”

“As far we know, the company is operating illegally without acquiring the necessary legal documents like Environmental Permit since the communities have not been involved in any environmental impact analysis process of the company.

“The illegal operation of Solar Mining is destroying the environment and polluting water bodies as well as our sources of livelihood,” they claimed.

“The company has constructed a dam on the headwaters of River Anoma and the company’s operations are polluting another river called Akosu. These two rivers serve as the source of drinking water for the people of Saamang, Juaso, Osino and other surrounding villages.”

He said Saamang has been selected among 15 communities in the Fanteakwa District by Cadbury for financial and technical aid for cocoa growing areas and any attempt to embark on surface mining would destroy the livelihood of the people.
Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, Executive Director of WACAM, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) fighting against irresponsible mining in the country, said there is increasing lawlessness in the mining sector and called on the government to tighten its mining laws.
“Once gold price is going up those in the mining sector are going to have a lot of wealth at their disposal and this would open the floor for a lot of illegal activities leading to widespread human rights and environmental abuses.”

He said if care is not taken these illegal miners could fuel violent conflicts in communities and areas where they face resistance from the local people because there is the tendency to unleash their ill-gotten wealth by getting the agencies to act on their behalf.