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LAND ENCROACHMENT AT JUASO, NWOASE, AND DONKRO NKWANTA.

Advocates for Community Alternatives(ACA)  partner communities in Ghana are facing land challenges by powerful actors such as mining companies and traditional authorities. They are, however, mounting a courageous resistance to the land challenge using a number of strategies.

Juaso

Kibi Goldfields Ltd. (KGL) operates a gold mine in the Juaso community in the Eastern Region of Ghana. 

BSD, a subsidiary of Kibi Goldfields, has  mined  2 feet away from the stream which is identified to be a buffer zone and against the law. In March 2021, the natives in the community noticed that  Kibi Goldfields had intentions of carrying out their mining activities in the stream which is their source of water for domestic use.

The community, realizing that mining in a watercourse could affect their health, decided to protest against the company.They gathered at the company premises clothed in red attires to show their displeasure and make their voices heard. This forced the company to withdraw from the illegal project.

Just a month after ceasing operations in the stream, Kibi Goldfields entered another part of the community, popularly referred to as “Old Cemetery,” and cleared approximately 17.5 acres of farmland to extend their mining activities. Once again, their activities were illegal because they failed to seek permission from the landowners

The natives of Kibi, reported to the District Chief Executive (DCE) and the District Police Commander and made their grievances known to them. The DCE intervened, and the company ceased its operations in the Old Cemetery area. 

In April 2021, KGL extended operations to another piece of land at the outskirts of the community. Unfortunately, they also chose to clear roads through the villagers’ cocoa plantations to access their new mining site. In constructing the roads, some cocoa trees were destroyed without prior notice or compensation to the farm owners. Instead,the company only reached out to the community to call them for negotiations over compensation after cutting the trees.  This is a clear violation of Regulation 14 of the Minerals and Mining (Compensation And Resettlement) Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2175).

Nwoase

Offspring of settlers from the northern region of Ghana have been living peacefully and farming for years alongside the indigenous population in the village of Nwaose, in the Bono East Region.  The Nwoase’s traditional chief,Atekoanohene, has however, upset both settlers and indigenes, for which he sold  nearly all the village’s farmland to outsiders. The  villagers are losing their lands in which they have cultivated household crops and watermelons(main source of income) to another traditional ruler. Their cashew plantation lands have also been sold off to a group of soldiers.

Even though the chief’s unethical actions affected both settlers and indigenes, the settlers, also tenant farmers, are hurt deeply as they have nowhere else to go. This is because they did not keep ties with their ancestors’ original communities, and have always carried out their duties to the Atekoanohene as subjects of the stool.

This is not the first time that the Atekoahene has placed his own financial gain over the good of the residents of Nwoase.  In past years, he has demanded tribute of goats for the privilege of continuing to farm the land or even for rearing animals within the village.  He extorts hundreds of cedis from residents before allowing them to bury their deceased on village land and forbids them from growing crops with germination periods of longer than three months.  Earlier this year, the chief struck back against the farmers’ decision to continue farming their land.  Announcing that he would “replace the people with cattle,” he signed a deal with local ‘Fulani’ herders, inviting them to bring cows to graze on community farmland and even within the confines of the village itself.

The people believe their chief is engaging in human right violations by depriving them of their right to livelihood, as well as violating his constitutional duties to administer the land for the benefit of the subjects of the stool.

Most recently, the land caretaker, who sold land to the soldiers, cut down cashew trees on another piece of land  and replanted new cashews.  The community has complained to Ghana’s Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice and is awaiting the Commission’s recommendations.

Donkro Nkwanta

The community of Donkro Nkwanta is located in the Nkoranza South District of the Bono East Region, adjacent to Nwoase.  About ten years ago, the people of Donkro Nkwanta successfully led a coalition of three other neighboring communities to reject the expansion of industrial gold extraction by U.S. mining giant Newmont. The residents remain united against any form of mining in the future.

This resolution, however, is now being tested, as the Nkoranzahemaa, the Queen Mother currently exercising traditional authority over the Nkoranza Paramount Chieftancy, has sold land belonging to Donkro Nkwanta to AnnG Farms, purportedly for the cultivation of cash crops.  Although the people and king of Donkro Nkwanta have protested strongly, AnnG has already destroyed several acres of cashew trees belonging to community farmers.

Community members, fearing that the land will actually be used for mining, have taken their concerns to the Nkoranza South Municipal Security Committee, which recommended that the Donkro Nkwanta land be returned to its original owners.  The community continues to stand firm with their king to insist that their right to land ownership should be respected.

CICONET UNDERGOES CONFIDENCE BUILDING TRAINING

It is a bright Wednesday morning with the sun’s rays glimmering in Segyimase, a small community within the Abuakwa South Municipality. Famous for its gold, Osino, capital of Fanteakwa South District is a town located in the Eastern Region of Ghana along the Accra-Kumasi highway and home to the people of Juaso and Nsuapemso. 19 May 2021 marks another eventful day for the people of these three communities. The people of Segyimase, Nsuapemso and Juaso have gathered for their monthly Citizen Committee Network (CiCoNet) meeting at the Methodist Church of Segyimase. The strong desire to develop their communities has brought together this group of determined people to deliberate on how to improve on their livelihood.

The main objective of CiCoNet is to build the capacities of 60 members from these three communities who would serve as intermediates and whose duty is to help advocate on behalf of communities to see development happening within their communities. Through these meetings, these members would be empowered and acquire knowledge and skills on how to address issues pertaining to the development of their communities, and how to present situations to their local governments when need be. Cognizant of the fact that they cannot rely completely on the Government or Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) for their survival, they have taken this bold step to harness the potential of their communities for progress and development. 

Like all other meetings, they began by reminding themselves of their vision, mission and goals which they had initially developed. This reminder instills in them the strong desire to succeed and propels them towards working hard in achieving their goals. It is also a way of prompting them about their various roles and responsibilities in developing their community.

Today’s session which recorded a total of 47 participants, focused on building self-confidence. Participants were engaged in confidence building activities, experience sharing and learning. They were divided into groups and given a task to carry out. To encourage participation, each participant presented the roles they played in ensuring that the exercise was completed. Each group chose a group representative who did the main presentation. Groups graded themselves based on their confidence levels. They also identified the challenges they faced and what they could have done better if they had a second chance.

Participants were then given another opportunity to undertake the same activity and were asked to grade themselves again. It was observed,that the level of confidence of participants had improved. 

When queried about what had changed, most participants attributed their improvement to the lessons learnt from the first trial and the desire to get better. Some referred to the slogan “Experience is the best teacher.”

After the exercise, participants were then taken through a talk by the Community Development Officer of ACA, Nana Ama. While making reference to the exercise they just completed, she explained to them the importance of building self-confidence and different ways in which it could be done. She concluded by encouraging them to assist each other as much as possible in this path. 

Giving his impressions about the meeting, George Owusu Asante, Chairman of CICONet stated: “Today’s meeting has encouraged us to be bold and courageous. It has made us to feel more confident and has taught us about unity and love. Now, we have the courage to approach the authorities and present our problems.”

It is therefore very important for these communities to be aware of their rights as well as their roles and responsibilities and the need to hold their local authorities accountable, while honoring their responsibilities. This is a major step in ensuring responsiveness, mutual accountability and sustainable development.

 ACA Legal Team Educates Juaso Victims on Mining Compensation Procedures as the Community’s Fight for Survival Continues.

The community of Juaso seem to be re-living one of their worst nightmares. Within the past few years, most of them have lost an immeasurable number of resources due to mining activities being carried out in the area by Kibi Goldfields Limited (KGL). Farmers have lost large tracts of land, depriving them of their major sources of income with little or no compensation. Many families have lost a greater part of their heritage to these miners. As a result, community members have become disillusioned as their complaints to local authorities to halt the menace and for compensations to be made, seem to be falling on deaf ears.

Farmlands that were once fertile grounds for food crops have now been replaced by stony roads. The indigenes complain of the use of the military to intimidate them into accepting the conditions laid out to them. Community members reckon that they woke up one morning to the realization that activities such as cutting down of trees had been going on at night while they were asleep. Some attest to being told by KGL that the activities were carried out at night because they were conscious of the fact that the community would not approve of them.

KGL has been granted the permit by the government to mine in the area but have failed to follow proper consultation processes with the community and have also ignored the statutory compensation procedures according to Ghanaian law, thereby providing either meagre compensations or nothing at all to affected victims

It is saddening knowing that these people are being deprived of their major source of livelihood without proper compensation. As part of Advocates for Community Alternatives’ (ACA) role in ensuring that these communities sustain their livelihood, a partnership was formed with Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL). The goal of this partnership is to guide communities like Juaso to make informed decisions and take actions regarding issues related to mining and its impact on the community.

To that effect, the Executive Director of ACA, Jonathan Kaufman paid a visit to Juaso on Friday 21 May 2021 to have a clearer picture of the situation and to educate the people on their rights with respect to compensations. During the interactions, he clearly explained the legalities surrounding compensations with regards to areas affected by mining enshrined in the laws of Ghana. Mr. Kaufman also highlighted the fact that some of these laws were not in alignment with international laws.

He educated the community on those areas which were excluded from mining procedures (forest reserves, water bodies) and those which were not (fields, homes, schools, roads). This was aimed at creating awareness on the long-term consequences these activities might have on them if proper measures were not taken. 

The ACA team accompanied by four community members also visited the site to enhance the knowledge of the community on how compensation plans work. This included Francis, a 42-year-old farmer who had been greatly affected by these mining activities. Based on what he had lost, and with the guidance of a compensation template, the group was able to develop an estimate of what his compensation ought to have looked like. The difference in the methods of compensation plans per company was also taken into consideration. Community members felt cheated by the revelations of the findings. A template was provided to aid the community calculate the value of what they had lost.

It is worth noting that the initial mining site on which KGL was carrying out its activities had been abandoned in search of a new site. The big question here is “Is KGL giving the community members their rightful due after the destruction being caused?” 

These and other thought-provoking questions are the drivers that prompt ACA to join forces with the community in seeking possible solutions towards ensuring that the people of Juaso are adequately compensated by these mining companies.