Nene Dautey Anyrah IV (inset), the Chairman of the Manya Krobo Land Management Committee, addressing the meeting. MAIN PICTURE: The management of West Africa Quarries Limited at the meeting

Manya Krobo Traditional Council in tussle with West Africa Quarries Limited

Ezekiel E. Sottie Feb - 08 - 2019 , 07:43 2 minutes read

The Manya Krobo Traditional Council is in a tussle with West Africa Quarries Limited over the failure by the company to pay compensation to the council for the mining of limestone at Odugblase in the Manya Krobo municipality in the Eastern Region.

The council has accused the company, which is a subsidiary of Ghana Cement Works Limited (GHACEM), of failing to pay compensation for its activities since it began operations14 years ago.

As a result, the council has, since December last year, prevented the company from mining limestone at the site, until legitimate agreements are reached.

Meeting

The council held a marathon meeting with officials of the quarry company at Odumase-Krobo last Wednesday to discuss how they could arrive at an amicable resolution of the matter.

The Managing Director of the company, Mr Ignatius Asare, suggested that the company be allowed to continue with its mining operations as they haggled to find a middle ground, a suggestion the council did not agree to.

According to the Coordinator of the Manya Krobo Customary Land Secretariat, Mr Emmanuel K. Sackitey, the issues were to have been resolved in an earlier meeting on November 28, 2018, but the management of the company requested for 14 additional days to make some consultations and come back to the negotiation table “but failed to honour its part of the agreement and rather went ahead and started mining again”.

He also accused the company of some infractions, including its failure to agree to a written agreement with the council and the limestone mining communities.

According to him, it was those uncompromising actions by the company that prompted the council to stop it from operating.

“The company will only go back to site and continue with its work if there is a compromise, otherwise it will have to stay away,” Mr Sackitey added.

Peaceful people

The Chairman of the Manya Krobo Land Management Committee, Nene Dautey Anyrah IV, said even though the people of the traditional area were peaceful and development-oriented, they would not allow themselves to be cheated.

The Divisional Chief of Djebiam, Nene Terkpernor Adipah IV, who deputised for the Konor of Manya Krobo, Nene Sakite II, said following lessons learnt from the company’s operations in the past 14 years, the traditional council would now ensure that the company entered into a substantive and comprehensive agreement with the council.