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Press Release
Hansol Mining, June 11, 2013
PRESS CONFERENCE BY HANSOL MINING AND AFFILIATE COMPANIES ON THE
ALLEGED ABUSES BY THE INTER- MINISTERIAL TASK FORCE ON ILLEGAL
MINING
Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen of the ink fraternity, both
local and international I believe.
We are most grateful for your presence.
My name is Edward Kwasi Akuoko; I am the Public Relations (PR)
Consultant to Hansol Mines and its affiliate groups, and am here
to state our position on recent developments within the small
scale mining sector before Ghanaian public, the media and the
international Community.
As you may be aware, there has been a lot of avoidable and
negative reportage on the activities of the inter- ministerial
task force set up by his Excellency the President –John Dramani
Mahama, concerning their mode of operation.
As a very responsible and legitimate Company that undertakes
mostly mine service support, we are sad to say that our
operations have been the most unfairly targeted.
The attacks on our operations include: Physical assault and
manhandling of our Ghanaian and Chinese staff, destruction of
some of our property, stealing and looting of our processed gold
and cash in both local and foreign currency by some members of
the task force and some communities respectively as you may see
in the subsequent visuals (video).
Other forms of unjustified and unwarranted abuses also includes
gross extortion, setting ablaze of some of our site structures
and equipment and in some instances, direct shooting of our
Chinese staff, some of which leads to deaths. (As evidenced in
the attached copies of certificates of death)
Our preliminary assessment of equipment and monetary loss to the
Company as a result of these acts by the task force is estimated
at about $ 3Bn dollars (Three billion US dollars) excluding the
cost of human lives which cannot be quantified.
Assuming without admitting that some these Chinese are operating
without the requisite documentation, is this the best possible
way, we as a state that is committed to respecting the human
rights of all, could handle the issue? Obviously Not!! I
believe.
The government’s inaction has put fear in the few Chinese
nationals residing in the country legitimately as they risk
becoming endangered species in Ghana following attacks on them
on almost daily bases. This may however explain why some of them
have acquired pump action guns with the intent of defending
themselves.
Unfortunately enough, none of the incidents reported to the
Ghana Police force by Hansol has yielded any positive outcome.
Friends of the media, in almost all such instances, government
through the various state actors and institutions has flatly
denied the allegations, yet the tangible and verifiable evidence
available to all, (Some of which we shall be showing to you now)
later tend to incriminate them.
We are therefore of the opinion that government needs to move
from this dormant position of mere denials and rather
collaborate with the victims to ascertain the facts.
These unfortunate trends if not halted, has the potential of
crippling most of the small scale mining Companies (Which has
been duly certified by government through its own regulating
agencies) and therefore lead to a worsened unemployment
situation in the country. As a result of these operations
management only yesterday has directed managers at the various
Mine sites across the country to send home, a total of 3,000
workers since there will be no money to pay them this and
subsequent months . The remaining 1,000 who are mainly machine
operators and security men also risk going home should the
attacks continue. These indeed are signs of hard times. The
situation has adversely affected the Hansol Assembly plant in
Tema as result of parts that got burnt at our western region
site where they were stored. We would want these workers who
have been dedicated to the Company all these while to know that,
the situation is just beyond us and we sympathize with them.
The situation has also necessitated a trip to the United
Kingdom, United States of America and China to renegotiate and
reschedule our payments as we are currently unable to service
them.
Sadly enough Ladies and Gentlemen, government and the president
seems to have turned a deaf ear to the numerous calls and
concerns raised by major stakeholders in the industry such as
The Small Scale Miners Association, The Artisanal Mining Africa
Network (AMAN) among other affected Companies such as ours. This
act of silence seems to have motivated the task force to
continue their unwarranted attacks on legitimate small scale
operators with gross impunity and wanton disregard to the basic
mandate given to them which stipulate that illegal operatives be
arrested and their equipment seized.
Some unscrupulous persons within some of the state security
agencies who have no role in the inter- ministerial task force
have also taking undue advantage of the exercise to rob our
sites all in the name of a national exercise. Just yesterday an
official claiming to be working with the Bureau of National
Investigations (BNI) by name- Otuo Acheampong (with a
024-4856013 contact) visited the Company CEO’s house in the
Bosomtwe district of Ashanti at about 7:00pm, and told residence
that he has been authorized from above to set the 2 excavators
there ablaze if he is not shown documentation covering them.
Now when the task force raided our sites in the Ashanti Region
on 18th March 2013, they made away with some kilos of gold worth
$ 450,000, some cash, and 10 pick-up vehicles and finally set
some equipment including two excavators ablaze.
Although we did report the matter to the police, nothing
concrete has been heard from them as we speak.
A petition to that effect was subsequently sent to government
through the Attorney General by our solicitors, but to no avail.
As you might have heard, about a week ago the task force led by
the District Chief Executive of Asankragua raided the Akonta
Mine site (which is even a large scale concession) where Hansol
is providing service support and made away with cash running
into Millions, Ceased equipment and pick up Vehicles and finally
torched the structures (As you will witness in the copies of
video tapes given to you: from 18th-24th minute) This followed
an extortion of 70,000 Ghana cedis from the Company by the DCE
through the Constituency NDC Chairman under the pretext of
safeguarding our operation area from the activities of the task
force. These operations are covered by the relevant
documentations and there were no Chinese on site, so the biggest
question bothering the minds of many is what motivated the
attacks by the task force?
When we later contacted the DCE and the NDC Constituency
Chairman to tell us the motive for the attacks, he said
President Mahama had given him a personal instruction to set the
site ablaze, because the CEO of Hansol is a perceived NPP, and
this singular act among other public commentary made some
government functionaries has given credence to the rumour that
the sustained attacks on our Company has some political intent.
Although we do not believe the DCE’s claims, we think it is
worth investigating to ascertain the truth so that such DCE’s do
not use the name of the president to harass and abuse others. In
summary about 300 excavators and unknown number of pick-up
vehicles other equipment cannot be accounted for and they are
believed to be in the custody of the task force.
Such unilateral display of excessive force and needless
exuberance used during such operations has generally led to a
perceived demonisation of the industry in the eyes of most
Ghanaians and the International community without any mention of
the benefits to the state, thus drawing no line of distinction
between Galamsey (considered illegal ) and small scale
operations (considered to be legal).
The impression therefore has been created by government that all
Companies affected by the raid are operating illegally and this
we (HANSOL AND AKONTA MINES) dispute vehemently.
It is important to note that the Small Scale Mining Industry is
a noble and respected sector with some prominent and astute
businessmen such as Ibrahim Mahama (brother to the president)
and Mrs. Kwabena Adjei (wife of the National NDC Chairman)
engaging in it either directly or indirectly.
At this juncture, we wish to remind government of its electoral
promise made to the people of Ghana on the Small Scale Mining
Industry prior to the 2012 elections, which sought to
streamline, harmonise and regulate the industry to the utmost
benefit of the unemployed Ghanaian and the state as a whole.
Furthermore we wish to state that our Company has contributed
immensely towards employment generation in Ghana and the overall
development of the state, as we continue to build new schools
and renovate new old ones, construct bore holes, feeder roads,
hospitals etc. for our host communities.
Besides the over 4,000 direct labour we’ve contracted, we paid
more than $ 1.6 million dollars in direct taxes to this very
same government (branding us as an illegal entity) through the
Ghana Revenue Authority and also contributed about $ 20 million
dollars to the state representing 8% of our total investment
inflows. We also contributed about 50% of the total gold
purchases made by government’s own Precious Minerals and
Marketing Cooperation (PMMC).
Based on this analysis, I am sure most of you might want to know
how much the entire sector is capable of giving government by
way of revenue and employment generation if is properly
sanitized and regulated using a more humane and business
friendly approach.
Finally ladies and gentlemen, we wish to make a direct appeal to
his Excellency President John Dramani Mahama to intervene and
halt these unwarranted attacks on indigenous Ghanaian Companies
such as ours all in the name of petty politics.
We also calling on the Chinese government to take keen interest
in the welfare of its citizenry in Ghana.
Thank You
Edward Kwasi Akuoko
(In- Charge of PR)
E: mail kwasiakuokojnr@gmail.com , cell: 024-4660102
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