CARE International monitoring team interacting with Dormaa Kantinka residents in Kenyasi No. 1
Story & Picture: From Ato Keelson, Kenyasi, Ahafo Region
Resettled Dormaa Kantinka residents currently at Kenyasi No. 1 in the Ahafo Region have made a passionate appeal to Wacam and its partners to impress upon Newmont to provide them with some cushion to enable them fend for themselves and their families.
According to them, though the resettlement brought some relief to them, their living conditions continue to worsen with each passing day, attributing the development to the destruction of their livelihoods by Newmont through its mining operations at their former homes.
The residents made the appeal on Tuesday, August 10, 2021, during CARE International in Ghana’s monitoring visit to Kenyasi.
The CARE International team, led by the Project Coordinator of Yensore Programme, Yakaubu Zakaria, accompanied by a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Alexander Buunaaim, was conducted around Kenyasi by a Wacam team led by Programmes Director, Kwaku Afari.
The visit, which was part of a three-day (9th August – 11th August, 2021,) CARE International monitoring exercise in mining communities in Ahafo, offered them the opportunity to interact with the residents many of whom were currently enduring loads of hardships.
The residents intimated that Newmont only took care of their accommodation but following that they have had challenges getting jobs to do in their new location.
Further, they complained about roof leakages of their new houses, lamenting that the situation had become worse with the rains pouring down almost every day.
Recounting her harrowing experience, Zinabu Dawuda, a resident, said she was beaten mercilessly by military and police personnel during their days at Dormaa Kantinka.
She said the reason for the inhumane treatment meted out to her was because she resolved not to move out of Dormaa Kantinka at the time.
“As it stands now many of us are jobless owing to the fact there are no jobs in our new area and we also do not have any capital to start a business,” she bemoaned.
Another resident, Ashetu Iddrisu, said “even with the new houses they have built for us, our roofs leak anytime there is a downpour.”
However, she said her roof leaks profusely if the downpour becomes heavy which situation compels her to place containers at the leaking spots to collect the flowing water into buckets.
Also narrating her ordeal, an old woman in her 70s, Maame Yaa Konadu, said she has indeed suffered a lot due to Newmont’s operations.
To this end, the residents applauded Wacam and its partners for ensuring that Newmont provided them with accommodation at their present location.
On his part and in the wake of their current predicaments, the Programmes Director, Wacam, Kwaku Afari, urged the residents to present their grievances with evidence to the Resettlement Committee for them to be taken up.
The Project Coordinator of CARE International, Mr Zakaria Yakubu, presented a box of nose mask to the residents and encouraged them to continuously observe the Covid protocols.
Earlier, the team interacted with Wacam women group, Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA), also in Kenyasi.
