Youth for Action Ghana wish to express our uttermost disgust at the unjustifiable abuses and glaring injustices being allowed to be visited on the people of Saaman, near Osino, in the Eastern Region by Solar Mining, in its adamant resolve to pursue its commercial interest at the expense of the peace and economic survival of the people.
Solar Mining had been prospecting for gold illegally in the community in partnership with Kibi Goldfieds. And under the guise of prospecting, the company has been using the police and the military to unjustifiably harass people in the community, and also destroyed a number of water bodies, including River Akusu and River Anoma which are among the main sources of water supply to the community. Agents of the company have also been entering the farms of the people illegally.
We recall the unlawful arrest and detention of the Assemblyman for the area and 14 others by the Eastern Regional police, and their subsequent release without any charge being preferred against them.
Perhaps, the worst of the abuses is the decision by the Fanteakwa District Assembly to deny people in the community their fair share of the national cake as a form of punishment for the determination to fight for their rights in not contesting to the illegal activities of Solar Mining.
The roofs of the block of the local DA Primary School was ripped off as a result of heavy downpour. And several requests made to the Assembly for the roofs to be fixed went unheeded, simply because the people would not allow their rights to be trampled upon my Solar Mining and its collaborators.
Under the laws of the country, before a company can undertake any mining activity, the affected community should give their prior consent, even with the right to say NO. Even after giving the prior consent, mining activities cannot start until appropriate compensation has been negotiated and payments made accordingly.
All these legal requirements have not taken place, yet Solar Mining last week moved excavators and other heavy duty equipment into the Saaman community, ostensibly to commence actual mining.
Sensing that they would incur the wrath of the people, officials of Solar Mining on Friday, November 18, 2011, sent soldiers to the community to harass the people who were demonstrating against the movement of equipment into the area.
As it happened in the Arab Spring, the people�s power prevailed over the coercive power of the compromised state security, with women and children in particularly driving out the soldiers from the community.
Already, the people have resolved to use all means possible to resist the attempt by Solar Mining and its partners to force their will down their throat. They have made their position well articulated to the Environmental Protection Agency, which is yet to respond appropriately to their position.
This situation, no doubt, has the potential of creating chaos in the community and thereby affecting the area�s peace and stability. And should anything untoward happen, EPA will have to he held accountable.
We want to call all well-meaning Ghanaian individuals and groups to rise up and join the people of Saaman to fight for their rights. We cannot allow these abuses to continue in the mining sector, especially when it has been universally acknowledged that mining has been a curse for our country.
We are also calling on government to move in to stop the company from further perpetration of abuses on the people. We want government to know that it first and foremost owes the good people of Saaman, and for that matter the entire nation, the obligation of safeguarding their interest at all times, especially in the face of abuses by individuals and groups seeking their parochial and material gains at the expense of the wellbeing and survival of the people.
The people of Saamam say they are content with their farming activities that had over the years remained their main source of livelihood and their decision must be respected as such.
Finally, we want to call on the people of Saaman to remain firm and continue to use all legitimate means available to them to resist the oppressors rule and fight for their rights.
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