Deputy Director of A Rocha Ghana, Mr Daryl Bosu has challenged the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr George Mireku Duker over jobs to be created through a community mining scheme (CMS). Speaking at the launch of the CMS at Danso, a community in the Bosome-Freho District of the Ashanti Region on Wednesday, November 22, 2023, the Deputy Minister revealed that, the concession is set to create over 4,000 direct and indirect jobs, and maintained that the unity among the residents as well as strict adherence to the mining regulations would create the platform for massive infrastructure development in the area. Reacting to the Deputy Minister’s comment on his Facebook page, Mr Bosu noted that, it still beat his imagination how the Deputy Minister managed to churn out such figures. He said, “Even the bauxite mine at Awaso which has been operating for more than 80 years does not employ more than 900 people directly”. “How can the Community Mining Scheme employ 4000 people directly and indirectly”, he asked, adding “Stop pushing the Community Mining agenda through misinformation”. “Let's find innovative green jobs hinged on viable agro-industries for the youth and stop this short-term intervention that leaves the rest of the community with far worse negative impacts. We should innovate. We cannot mine our way out of unemployment. It is shortsighted and not intergenerational in vision”, he added.
Daryl Bosu
Also sharing his opinion on communities opposing CMS, the Deputy Director of A Rocha Ghana urged the government to uphold the unequivocal rights of communities to an environment that is both pristine and healthful, refraining from the imposition of mining endeavors upon them. Despite the resistance of the residents Danso in the Bosome-Freho District on Tuesday over the proposed community mining project, the government ignored them and launched the scheme amid tight security. Daryl said, “Contemplating the scenario of community mining, one can't help but ponder how different it might be if the government hadn't resorted to the deployment of police force and political coercion in communities that oppose it”. He said there exists an urgent imperative for the cultivation of innovative strategies in youth employment. “Regrettably, the current inclination towards extractive practices represents a stark departure from the pursuit of such progressive and forward-thinking approaches’, he observed.