Asantehene in talks with two embassies to convert mining site to university
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has initiated talks with Chinese and German embassy officials for technical assistance to convert the old site of the AngloGold Ashanti Mining Company in Obuasi into a technical university.
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He said the old administration block and its workshops with abandoned equipment could be transformed to give the proposed university a headstart.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu, who was welcoming officials of the Golden Pride Savings and Loans Limited to the Manhyia Palace last Wednesday, indicated that while details of the discussions were still under wraps, his proposal fell in line with AngloGold’s own initial plan to make the site a technical university.
The officials, led by the Chairman of the Ghana Mines Workers Union, Mr Kwarko Mensah Gyakari, whose union formed the savings and loan company, were at the palace to invite Otumfuo Osei Tutu to the inauguration of the company’s eighth branch in Kumasi in January next year.
Anglogold
Anglogold Ashanti moved upstream where the prospects of gold are said to be high, last year.
The relocation to the more technologically endowed site led to the retrenchment of more than 1,000 workers who the company, with the support of the government, resettled.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu said the shutdown of the old mine site and the resultant retrenchment of workers had made life quite difficult for the ex-workers so there was the need for the association to give a helping hand.
Golden Pride Savings and Loans
Golden Pride Savings and Loans Limited will open its eighth branch in Kumasi after seven others sited in Obuasi, Tarkwa, Accra and Tema.
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The Asantehene, whose advice led to the formation of the company four years ago, urged it to provide soft loans to the people of Obuasi and the other mining communities to enable them to engage in small businesses.
Mr Gyakari, in response, commended Otumfuo Osei Tutu for his foresight and visionary leadership, without which the dream would not have been realised.
Among the team was the Managing Director, Mr Johnson Boadi Asamoah and other executives of the company.