Teleku – Bokazo (W/R), May 07, GNA-The Nzema Koyele Eku (Union), has expressed misgivings over the abuses of the Nzema community by operators of Adamus Resources Mines Limited, a mining company in the community.
The united front noted that operators of the mining company continued to harass and intimidate the Nzema community members which appeared to have emboldened them to act with the kind of impunity.
This was contained in a statement issued and signed by President of the Union, Madam Viddah Nviddah and copied to the media.
The statement said the arrival of Adamus Resources Limited, on the soil of Teleku-Bokazo was a welcomed news since it was an opportunity for the youth to get employment and have access to social amenities as part of the Company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR).
It noted that the company had not pitched a single project in the community but has been directly responsible for human rights violations and abuses of community members resulting in death and injuries at the hands their agents.
The statement noted that, “as a predominantly mining community, many of the youth who have no means of survival are driven to illegal mining.
“In order to forestall this, numerous attempts have been made at introducing properly regulated community mining but despite a lot of engagements with the government, it has not yielded any positive results.”
As a result, “some of the youth have taken attempts to mine in abandoned and no longer used pits assigned to Adamus” but the company had not taken kindly to this, and has tended to take the law into their hands.
It cited the burning alive of Mr Michael Budu on Adamus concession and the recent shooting incident at the Nkroful Magistrate Court which claimed one life and injured four others when the military fired into the crowd.
The statement said “enough is enough” and called on the Government “to call Adamus to order to halt the numerous atrocities on the community.
It also urged the Government, “to rein in Adamus, investigate them and bring the culprits to book.
The community advised the government not to wait for things to escalate before stepping in because “we as a people are tired and fed up”.
It also called on the Government to take a second look at the concession area given to Adamus as the concession basically covered the entire community including inhabited areas where you find settlements”.
“This cannot be right; Adamus’s concession should be reduced to exclude the inhabited areas of the community to allow for the community to have access to land for farming and other needs.”
It also appealed to the Government to take measures to allow the community to engage in mutually beneficial community mining to alleviate the unbearable poverty they faced and reduce the high unemployment rate in the area.
The statement demanded that pending the conclusion of investigations into the death of affected people, Adamus be made to stop its operations in the community to forestall any continued abuse of human rights by the company.
The Nzema Koyele Eku asked for a transparent declaration of Adamus on how much royalty they have paid so far with an indication of how much had gone to the Assembly and the community.
The statement appealed to the government to take their concerns seriously and come to their aid in a timely manner.
All effects to contact the management of Adamus Mines proved futile.
GNA
