The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union (GMWU) has called for a full scale tripartite investigation involving the government, Ghana Chamber of Mines and the GMWU into frequent mine accidents. This is to correct any possible lapses, and also ensure a more sustainable panacea for development.
At the same time, it has also urged the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Minerals Commission, and its Inspectorate Division to conduct a thorough investigation into the recent underground accident that saw three mineworkers working in the same area trapped.
Two of them managed to escape, with one still missing since Tuesday, May 18, 2021.
A media release signed by General Secretary, Mr Abdul-Moomin Gbana, and issued in Accra by the union said that as Ghana became the leading producer of gold on the continent, more mining companies were resorting to underground operations to boost their fortunes, which needed to be done safely.
"As a trade union organisation that has for 75 years sought the protection and welfare of workers in the industry, we take an uncompromising opposition to this worrying and preventable fatalities that are shedding the blood of innocent workers in atonement for the profiteering motives of these multinational corporations.
"The union will not countenance any more of these avoidable deaths ,and shall, therefore, not hesitate to withdraw our services if urgent and robust steps are not taken to eliminate and prevent these needless accidents from becoming a recurrent feature of the workplace," it said.
Global situation
The statement noted that globally, activities around mining in general were risky, but the level of risk exposure doubled when the operation was underground.
“It is against this backdrop that the industry is heavily regulated in terms of occupational health and safety standards, and best practices,” it said.
It said although Ghana, as a prominent hub of mining in Africa, had not fared badly in the regulating sector, a recent trend of mine accidents and incidents with its consequential fatalities happening in some of the underground operations, particularly AngloGold Ashanti, Obuasi Mine, and its surrogate Underground Mining Alliance that had claimed three lives since June 2020, were becoming a blot on the enviable record chalked by the country, especially since the ’80s.
Consequently, the union also renewed its call and advocacy on the need for the government to prioritise the ratification of the International Labour Organisation Convention 176 (Safety and Health in the Mines Convention) in order to further tighten and align the industry’s health and safety regulatory framework to globally acceptable standards.
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