The request followed the inability of the company to operate commercially for almost three years in a row.

The workers, led by their local union, made the request on August 1, when they picketed at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to demand their 19 months unpaid salaries.

The Secretary of the Local Union, Mr Francis Owusu, said Owere Mines had demonstrated that they could no longer continue to operate the mines hence their inability to pay the salaries of employees for 19 months. The company’s arrears to staff, which include their SSNIT contributions, date back to January 2016.

“The non-payment of our salaries have brought untold hardships to living conditions of workers to the point that a worker lost his spouse and an unborn baby as a result of his inability to afford medical bills not to mention children who have become school dropouts,” he said in an interview.

They were 65 employees who travelled from Konongo to Accra to register their displeasure.

The workers also accused the management of the company and some military personnel of engaging in illegal mining activities, which they said have contributed to their woes.

National union

The General Secretary of the GMWU, Mr Prince William Ankrah, said the union earlier had a number of engagements with the owners of the mines at the national union but did not yield any results.

“So we converged there to let the minister know how worse the issue is. We are only hopeful that the minister’s word will come through to meet us so that we can find solutions to the plight of our valued members, their future, whether they will be paid or they will find a new investor for the company,” he said.

Dent on local participation

The workers said they had, since April 3, 2017, petitioned the sector minister and notified all other stakeholders but have not had any response.

They added that the Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) wrote to the ministry about three months ago to arrange for a meeting to find lasting solutions to the issue but that also hit a snag.

Mr Ankrah said it was unfortunate to find that the ownership now rested on Ghanaians, yet it is a misery for the people who have toiled to keep the mine till date. 

“It’s a shame because we clamour for strong local penetration of the industry and when we have an opportunity to do so, we end up doing things haphazardly. The well organised mining groups will not do what they are doing. They will come clean, pay redundancy and walk away,” he said.

The Owere Mines has a concession of 125 kilometers square at Konongo.