Participants at a Human Rights Workshop held in Koforidua have accused Newmont Gold Ghana Limited (NGGL) Akyem Project of violating their economic; social; political; environmental and cultural
rights with impunity.
A communiqu�s issued at the end of the workshop said Newmont in collaboration with the local Police has been harassing and detaining farmers as a means of intimidating them to acquiesce to the establishment of the Project on their land.
The workshop, under the theme; "Human Rights Violations and the Problems Associated with Newmont Akyem Project"; was organised by WACAM, a human rights and mining advocacy nongovernmental organization, with the support of Oxfam America.
The participants were farmers drawn from Hweakwae; Yayaso; Adausena, Ntronang and Mamanso, all communities to be affected by the operations of Newmont Akyem Project in the Eastern Region of Ghana.
The communiqu� said mining in the Ajenua-Bepo Forest Reserve would destroy agriculture, which is the source of their livelihood and the livelihood of their children and all generations that would come after them.
It said; "Newmont officials have entered our farms and destroyed our crops without negotiating compensation with affected farmers" including Mr
Kofi Anokye of Hweakwae, whose oil palm and cocoa farms were destroyed and Mr Bismark Asiedu of Adausena, who had his cocoa farm ravaged.
Mr Adam Iddrisu had his teak; maize; cassava and pineapple farms destroyed and when he complained, Newmont Community Agents verbally
assaulted him, disparaging his ethnic background.
The communiqu� said Newmont Community Agents and Security Guards have been preventing farmers from engaging in their normal farming activities
even though the Company had not entered into negotiation with them contrary to Section 13 (9) of the Minerals and Mining Act 2006.
The participants said: "Newmont has set up a Compensation Negotiation Committee (CNC), which determines compensation for all farmers.
"We are opposed to the CNC because the members do not have a legal mandate to represent all the affected farmers. Section 74 (3) of the
Minerals and Mining Act states that the amount of compensation payable should be by agreement between the two parties, meaning that individual
farmers that would be affected by the operations of Newmont and Newmont should negotiate."
The communiqu�, therefore, called on the Government to revoke the mining lease it granted Newmont in January 2010 to destroy the Ajenua-Bepo Forest Reserve.