Story: A. Kofoya-Tetteh, Kwabeng
KWABENG, the capital of the Atiwa District, which was created out of the vast East Akyem District in the Eastern Region about three years, is noted for two main economic activities—farming and surface gold mining.
Being predominantly rural, Kwabeng has most of its inhabitants being farmers cultivating cocoa, oil palm, citrus and varieties of food crops on small holdings, which make it difficult for the people to earn appreciable income for their livelihood.
It is for this reason that the discovery of gold within the precincts of the town in the early 1990s is considered a blessing for the people of the town, which is now fast developing; it now has a number of social amenities such as schools, most of which have been provided by the district assembly.
However, the joy of the people, who in the past 18 years, had thought that the gold mining companies would provide some of their basic needs such as good drinking water, in line with the companies’ social responsibility, could not materialise.
Despite the failure of the companies to provide some of the needed amenities, particularly water, the people continued to co-operate with the companies until X’tra Gold came to the scene about two years ago.
X’tra Gold, as expected, quickly offered to provide the town with a modern clinic, in line with its social responsibility which was readily accepted by the people who therefore, decided to play ball with the company.
Besides the failure of X’tra Gold to honour its promise of providing a clinic to appease the inhabitants, its operations have polluted the Awusu River, the main source of drinking water for the people.
A large stretch of arable land has also been destroyed, but that could not incur the wrath of the people either, as they continue to live at peace with the company.
That peaceful co-existence was, however, seriously affected when some of the X’tra Gold workers recently assaulted a prominent citizen of the town, who questioned some aspects of the company’s operations.a
As expected, that unfortunate incident broke the camel’s back, with the people making a strong agitation by demanding that X’tra Gold sink six boreholes for the town within a period of six months or wind up its activities.
To help defuse the emerging tension with the possibility of degenerating into hostilities, the chief of Kwabeng, Osabarima Darkwa Woe, who is also the Gyasehene of Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area, together with his elders and some opinion leaders, toured the operational grounds of the company at the weekend for a first-hand information on the problem.
Osabarima Darkwa Woe was shocked at what he saw, especially the diversion of the polluted Awusu River and its tributaries, Obiri and Obeng, as well as the destruction of the landscape.
For that reason, he hurriedly summoned to his official residence at Kwabeng two top officials of the company, Messrs Kofi Agyemang and Michael Turkson, managers for exploration and mines respectively, for an amicable solution to the problem.
“As the chief of the town, I will not sit down for my people to drink contaminated water to contract all sorts of water-borne diseases such as bilharzia and skin diseases as is happening now, and the only thing I want for them is good drinking water,” Osabarima Darkwa Woe said in a tense mood.
The officials, who admitted that the demand of the chief was the ideal thing to do, said their company had already set aside GH¢70,000 for the construction of the clinic.
They, however, stated that it would be difficult for the company to sink the boreholes at the same time, taking into consideration the amount of money needed for the project.
That led to a heated argument during which the elders decided to advise themselves in a manner that would not be in the interest of the company.
In the heat of the argument, one of the citizens of the town, Alhaji Mustapha Boateng, decided to single-handedly fund the construction of the clinic so that X’tra Gold would be able to provide the six wells, at least, within the next six months, with constructional works starting within a fortnight.
Although both sides had agreed to co-operate in the interest of peace, all depended on how best X’tra Gold would honour its commitment to providing the boreholes.
This is because the continued use of water from the polluted Awusu River could increase the rate of bilharzia infection, which stood at 375 last year, as well as other water-related skin diseases, which would compel the people to possibly draw swords at X’tra Gold.
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