Deadly!: Golden Star Resources In Bloody Abuse Of Prestea-Bondaye Youth By Francis Mike Isaac Eshun On 5thSeptember, 2013 the Golden Star Prestea Bogoso Limited (GSPBL) organized a public forum at Mbease-Nsuta. The agenda was on plans to establish Bondaye Surface Mining Site. The aggrieved youths of the community resisted such attempt by GSPBL. According to the youths, the Bondaye Community does not have water, and for several times, the company has never made any attempt to help solve this perennial water crisis. Speaking at Best FM at Bogoso today(7th September,2013) , the Assemblyman of the area , Mr Adomako said he has on numerous occasions approached GSPBL to assist, but the company has turned a deaf ear to the menace. On the day of the forum, the Assemblyman said the youths warned him never to step foot there because the company did not listen to their request and there is no assurance that when allowed to come and set up the Bondaye site, they will do anything for the inhabitants. On the contrary, the chief of Mbease-Nsuta, who also heads Bondaye, Nana Adupanyin told Best FM today that the youths have no say since he is the owner of the land. Eventhough, the public forum should have taken place in Bondaye, the resistance of the youths caused the company to shift the goal post by sending it to Mbease-Nsuta. On the day, the youths started demonstration and decided to block the road to Mbease-Nsuta to prevent such forum, to the surprise of the youths, police from regional capital, Takoradi were deployed and the youths were beaten up brutally. One of the youths who spoke to Peace FM in Accra said he was beaten heavily. About three youths have been arrested and detained since. Responding to the concerns raised by the youths and the use of force, the community affairs manager of the company , Mr. Robert Gyenfi told Best FM today that the company is working with the laws of the country and that the demands of the youths must not prevent them from doing their work. When quizzed on the fact the people do not have water to drink, he said because there was an old water system, they have been studying that system since and they are yet to come out with a solution. When the police in the area were contacted, the District Police Commander, Mr. Wenchi said even though the youths came to his outfits to seek for permission to demonstrate, he pleaded with them to work within the confines of the law and since the youths did not follow it, force was applied to maintain law and order. The work at Bondaye will destroy so many houses and the people have no idea where they will be staying, and there will be no compensation because those houses were constructed by the defunct Prestea Goldfields mines. GSPBL is also set to dislocate the Odumasi Community to do surface mining and Prestea Goldfields Basic School, the biggest Basic School in Prestea Huni-valley District will also be pulled down so that the area will be used for surface mining. "We leave Ghanaians to make their own discussions on whether the company is doing us any good with this surface mining. Till then, we do not know when the whole Prestea Community will be pulled down for surface mining." All communities mentioned are in the prestea huni valley district.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 14:45:23 +0000
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