Youth of Nzema have served notice of taking the law into their hands to defend themselves against the human rights abuses that have characterised the presence of Adamus Resources Mines Limited in their community.
“We wish to emphatically state that, we have had enough and shall no longer be cowed into fear,” the youth said in a statement on Saturday, April 30.
“Enough is enough. Adamus must be stopped. We demand justice for all the members of the community who have had their rights trampled upon by Adamus.”
According to the statement, the mining company has been left to go on rampage against the community, whose lands have been almost taken under concession.
It said the youth are not happy the promised employment for indigenes the coming of Adamus was heralded with has been non-existent.
The aggrieved youth made their demands known in the statement.
“First, we call on the Government in particular, to take steps to rein in Adamus. Investigations should be conducted into the actions of Adamus in our community, the culprits brough to book and heavy sanctions imposed on Adamus. The Government should not wait for things to escalate before stepping in. We, as a people, are tired and fed up. We shall not hesitate to protect ourselves moving forward. Our lives and well-being are important to us.
“Second, the Government has to take another look at the concession area granted to Adamus. As things stand, the concession basically covers the entire community, including the inhabited areas where you would find settlements. This cannot be right. Adamus’ concession should be reduced and should exclude the inhabited areas of the community. This will allow for the community to have access to land for farming and other needs.
“Further, we call on the Government to hear our cry and put the necessary mechanisms in place so that as a community, we can engage in mutually beneficial community mining, which will alleviate the unbearable poverty most of us face, and reduce the high unemployment in our community. All we want is a means of survival. We have all the necessary and relevant evidence and will gladly make them available to assist with a speedy investigation into this matter.
“Finally, we demand that pending the conclusion of investigations into this matter, Adamus should be made to stop its operations in our community. This will forestall any continued abuse of our rights by the company. In addition, seeing as no community development can be directly linked to Adamus since they commenced operation here, we demand that there should be a transparent declaration by Adamus on how much royalty they have paid so far, with an indication of how much of this has gone to the assembly and the community.”
They expressed “trust and hope” that the government will “take our concerns seriously and come to our aid in a timely manner”.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana