Ayanfuri community appeals to govt
Residents of Ayamfuri, a mining community in the Upper Denkyira West District of the Central Region, have appealed to the government to help them to get employment.
In line with that, it has urged the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources to impress on Perseus Mining Ghana Ltd operating at Ayamfuri to cede the Heap Leach to the community.
This, they believe could help solve the acute shortage of employment and sources of livelihood confronting the youth in the area.
Perseus Mining
Mr Godfred Kwakye, an assembly member for Ayamfuri who spoke to Graphic on behalf of the residents said when Perseus Mining Ghana Ltd started its operations in the community, it promised to create jobs for the youth in the area and asked them to vacate the Heap Leach for the company in exchange for employment from the company.
Regretably, he said, the company when it took over mining in the area could not keep to its promise to employ the youth on its mines .
Heap Leach
He said the youth who with difficulty consented to leave the Heap Leach felt betrayed by the company since the reality on the ground was that the youth had not been employed by the mining company.
He said the few who were employed many had also been retrenched for reasons only best known to the company.
Gunshots wounds
As a result, Mr Kwakye said agitations in the town had always been rising which sometimes ended in clashes between the youth and the military men stationed at Ayamfuri to intimidate the residents on the pretext of protecting the mines.
He said in a recent clashes between the soldiers and the youth, three people including a pregnant woman sustained gunshots wounds.
He said the elders in the town had written to the company pleading with them to release the land to the youth for the sake of peace and tranquility.
Bone of contention
He said that had been the bone of contention between the company and the youth which had resulted that in many violent confrontations but the company had remained adamant to the request of the residents.
The assemblyman, therefore, called on the company and the government to heed to the call of the youth by returning the Heap Leach to the Ayamfuri Community for the youth to be engaged in gainful employment for the sake of peace in the area .
Mineral wealth
He said there was tension in the community currently which could explode into a large scale conflict between the community and company if an amicable solution was not immediately found.
The mining operations, according to the assemblyman, were not directly or indirectly impacting on the locals but foreign companies exploiting the mineral wealth in the area.
