By Samuel Boadi & Esther Awuah
THE MODE of transmission of the recent cholera outbreak in Ghana has taken a new twist. Contrary to the known gestation period of three to five days, the current infection manifests itself within a few hours, after a person comes into contact with the cholera bacteria, killing people within a twinkle of an eye. So far over 70 people are said to have died and the death toll appears to be rising. Kasoa, a sprawling community outside Accra is said to be the hard hit. Clinics and hospitals in the are full to capacity with reports of cholera disease.
Victims suffer from large quantities of watery stools alongside uncontrollable vomiting. The incidence keeps increasing at an alarming rate, according to health officials. Hospitals are choked with cholera patients, a development which has virtually caused fear and panic among the citizenry.
Unlike in previous years when the disease was prevalent in the rainy season, the current epidemic is taking place in the dry season. Medical officers are finding it difficult to determine the cause of the outbreak. A study has been commissioned by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to determine its possible causes, but is yet to be presented to shed light on the origins of the widespread contagion.
Signs and symptoms
Cholera is an acute infection of the small intestine, caused by consuming food and water contaminated with the Vibrio cholerae bacterium (cholera bacteria). The period between being exposed to the bacterium and the presence of symptoms is very short.
Patients infected with cholera suffer excessive painless and watery diarrhea. Most persons also experience intense vomiting. This leads to severe and rapid dehydration and even death if treatment is not quickly administered. Symptoms of dehydration include a rapid pulse, sunken eyes, low blood pressure and wrinkled hands.
Most persons infected with the disease do not become ill and suffer from these symptoms, despite having the bacterium in their faeces for 7 to 14 days. In cases where illness occurs, most episodes are mild and difficult to differentiate from other types of diarrhea. Less than 20percent of cholera patients develop symptoms of severe dehydration.
Fortunately, cholera is easy to treat. According to the WHO, 80percent of people can be treated effectively using Oral Re-hydration Salts, while severely dehydrated patients require intravenous fluid administration, a common sight in our hospitals today.
Victims’ stories
Daily Guide visited the Korle-Bu Polyclinic and conducted interviews with some of the victims.
Twenty-eight-year-old Kwasi Agyei, a resident of Lapaz, Nii Boi Town, said he would have been dead by now were it not for the timely efforts of his co-tenants.
Recounting his ordeal, Kwesi said when his elder and younger sisters observed him dehydrating from passing excessive stools and vomiting, they rushed him to a prayer camp instead of a hospital.
Kwesi contracted the disease when he went to join his workmates at Suhum on Wednesday to connect a drilled borehole. When he felt thirsty, he could not immediately find water to drink so he tasted the water from the borehole.
“In fact” he said “it tasted so nice that I gulped down a lot and felt very full.”
On his way to Accra, he felt hungry so he bought some fried ‘turkey tail’ popularly called ‘tsofi’ and fried yams at Nsawam.
“As soon as I got home, I retired to bed because I was very tired he said. “But on Thursday morning, I sensed some discomfort in my stomach which was followed by frequent visits to the toilet. After the third time, I became very weak so I called my sisters to take me to the hospital.”
He recounted that instead, he was taken to a prayer camp where the pastor told him he was a witch, hence the reason for the infection.
“So there I lay unable to defend myself and receiving prayers in tongues upon tongues and almost dying. As if by divine intervention, my colleagues visited me in my house and sensing danger, took me to Korle-Bu from where I have received treatment since.”
Afrifa Rita, another victim who had fully recovered from the infection and was waiting to be discharged, is a resident of Mamprobi and sells rice by the roadside.
The 26-year old woman said she bought some beans and fried plantains on Saturday in the area where she sells rice.
“The environment where I bought the food was not neat at all” she admitted, “but the food tastes so nice that I am tempted to buy it anytime I go hungry.”
Then on Sunday morning, she sensed some weird sounds in her stomach. “I went to toilet and it was all watery. After about the sixteenth stool, I started vomiting so my housemates rushed me to Korle-Bu where I was put on fluids. I’m fine now but I have pledged not to buy from an unkempt environment again. I have learnt my lesson,” she said.
Kobina Tachie, a 33-year-old resident of Odorkor Official Town, sells pumping machines. Narrating his story, he described how he bought some boiled rice and stew at a junction near his shop where a refuse dump was situated on Sunday.
“At dawn on Tuesday, I started feeling cramps in my abdomen” he began. “Then the diarrhea began so I went to a drug store to buy some medication.” Still, the cramps worsened and did not cease.
Mr. Tachie went to a clinic, Rock Hospital, but the personnel there were unable to assist with his situation. He was made to wait for a doctor until 4pm. By that time, his situation had gotten worse so he was rushed to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
“I thank God I am doing fine” he expressed, “I want to take this opportunity to tell other members of the public to be careful with what, how and where they eat.”
However, the victims at Korle-Bu Polyclinic have complained about the payment of bills after their treatment. They claim they cannot understand why Government has announced a free treatment for victims but yet they are being asked by the Polyclinic to pay amounts ranging from GH¢24 to GH¢30.
But Mr Aryee, Disease Control Officer at the Polyclinic told Daily Guide that the payment is meant for giving sets, canolas and other required items which are not covered under the Government’s package.
Prevention
According to Dr. Salamatu Attah Nantongma, a medical officer at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, who also works at the Family Medicine Department of the Korle-Bu Polyclinic, the mode of transmission is through the faeco-oral route, meaning from hands contaminated with the bacterium and passed on into the mouth.
“One can get cholera if one eats fruits and vegetables that are not washed or boiled, eats cooked foods that have gotten cold and have been handled with people’s hands, or drinks un-boiled and untreated water in places where there is an outbreak of cholera,” she said.
To prevent it therefore, she stated that people must practice washing of hands before meals, washing of hands when you come in from outside where you have greeted people and touched a lot of things, washing of hands after using the washroom, and avoiding communal drinking of water.
She said that the people must boil their drinking water and keep it in clean covered containers and eat cleanly prepared hot food. In addition, that people should be selective about where they purchase their food
“You have been told how to protect yourself, but you still have the choice to go and eat from anywhere, so exercise caution” she stressed.
The number of patients seems to rise during the weekends, when people are busier and purchase food and drinks outside the home. “People should be careful especially when they attend funerals and other functions” she said, “They are rushed in here in numbers and the situation is very appalling.”
Although Dr. Nantongma was unable to confirm to what extent sachet water consumption contributed to the current outbreak, she emphasized that the public should exercise extreme discretion when purchasing from unknown or unpopular sachet water producers.
“There are some brands where we are not really sure whether they have been approved by the standard board or the Food and Drugs board” she said, “So as much as possible we advise that you stick to the popular brands”
The Current State
Cholera has spread widely throughout the world since 1961. In Ghana, it was first reported in 1970. Major epidemics were recorded in 1971, 1977, 1983, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1998 and 2005 in all ten regions while localized outbreaks have cropped up in coastal regions.
The unprecedented amounts of rainfall experienced in 2010 necessitated the opening of the spill ways in both the Bagri Dam in Burkina Faso and the Akosombo Dam in Eastern Region. These led to floods in most low-lying areas. All these, together with other high risk factors such as poor sanitation, lack of potable water, poor personal and food hygiene, have provided favourable environment for the transmission of diarrhoeal diseases including cholera.
Current statistics on the epidemic
Though the most recent study on the epidemic is expected to be made public next week, statistics available from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) for 29th September 2010 to 27th March, 2011 indicate that from the 10 districts in Greater Accra, cases reported stand at 4,499 infected with 36 deaths. This is followed by 573 cases from 12 districts in Eastern with 9 deaths; 554 cases from 7 districts in Central with 24 deaths; 8 cases from one district in Upper West with no deaths and 32 cases from a West Gonja, district in the Northern region, with no deaths.
According to Dr. Joseph Amankwah, Public Health Director of GHS, in an interview with Daily Guide, between 800 and 900 cases are reported each week. He describes the recent outbreak as a mysterious one.
He said another factor that could be contributing to the situation was that most landlords in Accra have rented out rooms without toilet facilities. This has contributed to a lot of people defecating in bushes nearby, packaging faeces in black polythene bags and throwing these into gutters among other unhygienic acts. The faeces are washed into water bodies which serve as source of drinking water to homes whenever it rains.
“This is weird because yet the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) doesn’t seem to care! This shows how Ghanaians are dirty” stated Dr. Amankwah.
The Way Forward
The GHS has warned that the prevention and control of cholera require an integrated multi-sectoral approach since the control of most of the risk factors are beyond the health sector.
“The outbreak is not under control and is still spreading rapidly. The possibility of it spreading to other regions and districts is very high,” it noted in a memorandum.
GHS notes that the control of the infection depended largely on the collaboration of various ministries, namely the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Ministry of Water Resources, Works & Housing, Ministry of Information and the Ministry for the Interior. GHS has stated that sustainable improved water management, as well as general environmental sanitation were crucial and critical.
“It is about time that the needed resources (financial and material) are timely made available for the implementation of key activities outlined in the National Short Term Action Plan.”
Dr. Nantongma of Korle Bu warns that the situation might yet get worse, unless government, health agencies, civil society groups and the public take proactive measures towards preparedness and response
“The rainy season is around June and July” she states with concern. “There is a potential that the outbreak could get worse. We usually don’t have cases during this time. We are all just hoping that people are listening. We are hoping that people are changing their practices,” she said.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Promote Consumer Financial Protection .Gov’ts Told
By Samuel Boadi
Consumers International (CI) has urged governments all over the world to ensure fair consumer financial protection for their citizenry.
The recommendations, which form part of this year’s World Consumer Rights Day on March 15, are in response to the G20 commitment to address consumer protection in financial services at the Seoul Summit in November 2010, where CI and consumer organisations from G20 and non-G20 countries fervently campaigned.
CI, in a recent press release, said the launch of the recommendations will take place on May 21, this year.
Joost Martens, Director General of Consumers International, said: “There are as many bank accounts in the world as there are adults and 150 million new consumers join the market for financial services every year. Yet consumers around the world – in both rich and poor countries – are continuing to get a raw deal from banks and other financial service providers.
“These ground-breaking recommendations are the product of a shared sense of anger within the consumer movement that the rights of financial consumers have been neglected for too long. They provide a clear and comprehensive set of demands to significantly improve financial protection for consumers everywhere.”
The report, ‘Safe, fair and competitive markets for financial services: recommendations for the G20 on the enhancement of consumer protection in financial services,” calls for a new international organisation to support work on financial consumer protection.
It called for a permanent international organisation to enable national financial consumer protection bodies to share good practice, issue public alerts and develop minimum standards and guidelines.
It appealed to national regulators with full authority to investigate, halt and remedy violations of consumer protection law, including the right to define specific practices or products as unfair, deceptive or otherwise illegal.
Calling for clearer contracts, charges and practices, it said regulators should introduce a requirement of comprehensibility to remove from the market products that do not meet minimum standards. Again, it said financial advice to consumers should be separated from sales-based remuneration.
On effective redress and dispute resolution, the report said consumers should have access to adequate individual and collective redress systems.
It also touched on measures to promote stability and safety of consumers’ deposits and investments, including separation of investment and retail banking divisions, bank ‘living wills’ with guarantees for protecting consumer deposits, and reform of insolvency procedures to change the rank of creditors to put depositors at the top.
The report called for competition in financial services to help reverse the market concentration, which has contributed to the creation of institutions that are 'too big to fail' and also remove barriers that discourage consumers from switching accounts.
It said financial service providers should be asked to take more responsibility of ensuring consumers receive clear, sufficient, reliable, comparable and timely information about financial service products.
According to James Guest, CI’s Vice President and CEO of Consumers Union of the United States, “The 2008 collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market was the starting point for what became the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. This crisis started with a failure of financial consumer protection and implementing CI’s recommendations will be a major step towards preventing such a catastrophe from ever happening again.
“Weak consumer protection in financial services is an unnecessary risk with disastrous consequences we cannot afford to repeat. We call on governments to pay urgent attention to the consumer movement’s demands.”
World Consumer Rights Day is an international day of action and awareness, observed by consumer organisations and civil rights groups around the world.
President John F. Kennedy on 15 March, told the US Congress: “Consumers by definition, include us all. They are the largest economic group, affecting and affected by almost every public and private economic decision, yet they are the only important group, whose views are often not heard.”
Consumers International (CI) has urged governments all over the world to ensure fair consumer financial protection for their citizenry.
The recommendations, which form part of this year’s World Consumer Rights Day on March 15, are in response to the G20 commitment to address consumer protection in financial services at the Seoul Summit in November 2010, where CI and consumer organisations from G20 and non-G20 countries fervently campaigned.
CI, in a recent press release, said the launch of the recommendations will take place on May 21, this year.
Joost Martens, Director General of Consumers International, said: “There are as many bank accounts in the world as there are adults and 150 million new consumers join the market for financial services every year. Yet consumers around the world – in both rich and poor countries – are continuing to get a raw deal from banks and other financial service providers.
“These ground-breaking recommendations are the product of a shared sense of anger within the consumer movement that the rights of financial consumers have been neglected for too long. They provide a clear and comprehensive set of demands to significantly improve financial protection for consumers everywhere.”
The report, ‘Safe, fair and competitive markets for financial services: recommendations for the G20 on the enhancement of consumer protection in financial services,” calls for a new international organisation to support work on financial consumer protection.
It called for a permanent international organisation to enable national financial consumer protection bodies to share good practice, issue public alerts and develop minimum standards and guidelines.
It appealed to national regulators with full authority to investigate, halt and remedy violations of consumer protection law, including the right to define specific practices or products as unfair, deceptive or otherwise illegal.
Calling for clearer contracts, charges and practices, it said regulators should introduce a requirement of comprehensibility to remove from the market products that do not meet minimum standards. Again, it said financial advice to consumers should be separated from sales-based remuneration.
On effective redress and dispute resolution, the report said consumers should have access to adequate individual and collective redress systems.
It also touched on measures to promote stability and safety of consumers’ deposits and investments, including separation of investment and retail banking divisions, bank ‘living wills’ with guarantees for protecting consumer deposits, and reform of insolvency procedures to change the rank of creditors to put depositors at the top.
The report called for competition in financial services to help reverse the market concentration, which has contributed to the creation of institutions that are 'too big to fail' and also remove barriers that discourage consumers from switching accounts.
It said financial service providers should be asked to take more responsibility of ensuring consumers receive clear, sufficient, reliable, comparable and timely information about financial service products.
According to James Guest, CI’s Vice President and CEO of Consumers Union of the United States, “The 2008 collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market was the starting point for what became the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. This crisis started with a failure of financial consumer protection and implementing CI’s recommendations will be a major step towards preventing such a catastrophe from ever happening again.
“Weak consumer protection in financial services is an unnecessary risk with disastrous consequences we cannot afford to repeat. We call on governments to pay urgent attention to the consumer movement’s demands.”
World Consumer Rights Day is an international day of action and awareness, observed by consumer organisations and civil rights groups around the world.
President John F. Kennedy on 15 March, told the US Congress: “Consumers by definition, include us all. They are the largest economic group, affecting and affected by almost every public and private economic decision, yet they are the only important group, whose views are often not heard.”
Where Are The Rights Of Ghanaian Consumers?
Not many Ghanaian consumers can tell of a time when they successfully sought redress from the courts of law on a product (both local and foreign), which they bought from the market that later proved to be substandard or fake.
There is currently no Consumer Rights Law to protect consumers, hence the exploitation of a lot of consumers in Ghana by some manufacturers. SAMUEL BOADI looks into this matter.
Asana Awudu lives at Abuja, a shanty settlement behind the Cocoa Marketing Board (CMB) offices at Accra Central.
The 30-year-old mother of two migrated from her hometown at Nyankpala in the Northern Region to look for greener pastures in Accra two years ago.
She cannot see anymore because an oil ointment she bought from a drug hawker to treat an eye infection has left her totally blind.
All efforts to help her regain her sight have proved futile and she cannot trace the one she bought the eye ointment from.
She used to sell fritters every morning in a glass container, which she carried on her head, and she was able to remit her two children in the village every month since her children’s dads had totally abandoned them.
Now she is a roving beggar on the streets of Accra perpetually impoverished because she cannot see.
As part of efforts to forestall such situations and educate consumers on what to look out for in products that the Ghana Standards Board (GSB), with support from a few corporate organizations, marked the International Day of the Consumer yesterday, March 15, 2011 in Accra.
Speaking to CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE in a telephone interview, Amponsah-Bediako, Public Relations Manager of GSB, said a lot of consumers in Ghana stand the risk of purchasing substandard products if they shop recklessly.
According to him, this was necessary because a lot of products in Ghana were manufactured in obscure places.
Noting that a good number of products also meet GSB’s required standards, he appealed to consumers to look out for the name and address of the manufacturer of any product they buy on the market, as well as the country of origin so that the manufacturers could easily be traced.
“The inscription should be in English including the manufacturing and expiry dates other than that users would find it difficult to understand how to use a particular product.
Consumers should also check the net content, volume and weight of products, the list of ingredients, especially for food and drugs and additionally pay attention to the energy efficiency ratings (capacity) of electrical appliances they buy.”
Calling on the national regulatory bodies such as the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Food & Drugs Board (FDB), Energy Commision, among others to collaborate with GSB to educate consumers on their rights, Mr Amponsah Bediako said no headway would be made if consumers fail to pay particular attention to attributes of products.
Odame Darkwa, Deputy CEO, Food Division of the FDB, asked consumers to critically examine both local and foreign products they buy from the market.
“In the case of canned foods for example, consumers should always look out for the nature of packaging as to whether the cans have rusted, bloated or with defaced labels.”
He further tasked consumers to look out for substances they are allergic to so that they are not exposed to any health hazards.
“Consumers should therefore be careful, especially people who buy from vendors carrying food on their heads by the roadside. Most of these vendors do not have any means of refrigeration and thus exposes foods to a lot of infections.
Of special concern is sachet water. Most of the sellers look very unkempt and sell by gutters.”
Kofi Kapito, Executive Secretary of Consumer Protection Agency, also complained about the rate at which some embassies in Accra exploit Ghanaian visa applicants.
“The American and British Embassies have taken undue advantage of applicants in that when people apply for visas, they are denied the visas on flimsy excuses and their monies are not refunded to them. How can the mere processing of documents cost about $100? There is no place in the United States that the processing of visa costs this much.”
He said government needs to put measures in place to prevent telecommunications companies from exploiting consumers.
“These telecoms operators deceive consumers with a lot of messages and ask phone users to text messages to certain codes for prizes. It is the NCA that should do these things but appear to be in bed with these companies, hence the massive exploitation.”
Mr Kapito therefore called on government to speed up work on the preparation of the Consumer Rights Law to help fight manufacturers of products and services, who unduly take advantage of the Ghanaian consumer and walk away scot-free.
“Most Ghanaian consumers have had nowhere to take their concerns to particularly when their rights are being abused. When the Consumer Rights Law comes into force, there would be some sanity in the system,” Mr Kapito stressed.
There is currently no Consumer Rights Law to protect consumers, hence the exploitation of a lot of consumers in Ghana by some manufacturers. SAMUEL BOADI looks into this matter.
Asana Awudu lives at Abuja, a shanty settlement behind the Cocoa Marketing Board (CMB) offices at Accra Central.
The 30-year-old mother of two migrated from her hometown at Nyankpala in the Northern Region to look for greener pastures in Accra two years ago.
She cannot see anymore because an oil ointment she bought from a drug hawker to treat an eye infection has left her totally blind.
All efforts to help her regain her sight have proved futile and she cannot trace the one she bought the eye ointment from.
She used to sell fritters every morning in a glass container, which she carried on her head, and she was able to remit her two children in the village every month since her children’s dads had totally abandoned them.
Now she is a roving beggar on the streets of Accra perpetually impoverished because she cannot see.
As part of efforts to forestall such situations and educate consumers on what to look out for in products that the Ghana Standards Board (GSB), with support from a few corporate organizations, marked the International Day of the Consumer yesterday, March 15, 2011 in Accra.
Speaking to CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE in a telephone interview, Amponsah-Bediako, Public Relations Manager of GSB, said a lot of consumers in Ghana stand the risk of purchasing substandard products if they shop recklessly.
According to him, this was necessary because a lot of products in Ghana were manufactured in obscure places.
Noting that a good number of products also meet GSB’s required standards, he appealed to consumers to look out for the name and address of the manufacturer of any product they buy on the market, as well as the country of origin so that the manufacturers could easily be traced.
“The inscription should be in English including the manufacturing and expiry dates other than that users would find it difficult to understand how to use a particular product.
Consumers should also check the net content, volume and weight of products, the list of ingredients, especially for food and drugs and additionally pay attention to the energy efficiency ratings (capacity) of electrical appliances they buy.”
Calling on the national regulatory bodies such as the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Food & Drugs Board (FDB), Energy Commision, among others to collaborate with GSB to educate consumers on their rights, Mr Amponsah Bediako said no headway would be made if consumers fail to pay particular attention to attributes of products.
Odame Darkwa, Deputy CEO, Food Division of the FDB, asked consumers to critically examine both local and foreign products they buy from the market.
“In the case of canned foods for example, consumers should always look out for the nature of packaging as to whether the cans have rusted, bloated or with defaced labels.”
He further tasked consumers to look out for substances they are allergic to so that they are not exposed to any health hazards.
“Consumers should therefore be careful, especially people who buy from vendors carrying food on their heads by the roadside. Most of these vendors do not have any means of refrigeration and thus exposes foods to a lot of infections.
Of special concern is sachet water. Most of the sellers look very unkempt and sell by gutters.”
Kofi Kapito, Executive Secretary of Consumer Protection Agency, also complained about the rate at which some embassies in Accra exploit Ghanaian visa applicants.
“The American and British Embassies have taken undue advantage of applicants in that when people apply for visas, they are denied the visas on flimsy excuses and their monies are not refunded to them. How can the mere processing of documents cost about $100? There is no place in the United States that the processing of visa costs this much.”
He said government needs to put measures in place to prevent telecommunications companies from exploiting consumers.
“These telecoms operators deceive consumers with a lot of messages and ask phone users to text messages to certain codes for prizes. It is the NCA that should do these things but appear to be in bed with these companies, hence the massive exploitation.”
Mr Kapito therefore called on government to speed up work on the preparation of the Consumer Rights Law to help fight manufacturers of products and services, who unduly take advantage of the Ghanaian consumer and walk away scot-free.
“Most Ghanaian consumers have had nowhere to take their concerns to particularly when their rights are being abused. When the Consumer Rights Law comes into force, there would be some sanity in the system,” Mr Kapito stressed.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Newmont Ahafo’s Resettlement Programme: Are Beneficiaries Satisfied?
By Samuel Boadi
AT THIS time and age where most countries in the world are inculcating several forms of modernity into their infrastructural development, especially in their mining areas, the same can still not be said of Ghana and one wonders why Government is just insensitive. Samuel Boadi delves into the issue.
NEWMONT GHANA started operations at its Ahafo Mine in January 2006, went into processing in June of that year and had its first gold pour on July 18, 2006. According to the company, it has made capital investments of up to $1 billion as at end of 2009 and paid royalties totaling $42.3 million as at end of the last quarter of 2009.
This is welcome news particularly considering the quantum of investment involved and the chain of employment it has created in addition to the compact benefits that have accrued to persons affected by the company’s operations.
Newmont’s Ahafo mine boasts of two primary ore zones - North and South, separated by the Bosumkese Forest Reserve. These entail 11 deposits over a 40-kilometer trend. As at 2008, its Ahafo south site had reserves of 5.9 million ounces while its north site had 3.2 million ounces.
Resettling Affected Farmers
In its quest to extract ore from certain locations in its concession, Newmont Ahafo embarked on a land access programme. This involved the resettlement as well as the livelihood re-establishment programmes.
Under the former, over 1,700 households were affected. These entailed some $17 million, while $16 million was spent on crop compensations and $22.3 million on the livelihood re-establishment. The latter encompassed the agriculture improvement and land access programme (AILAP), the vulnerable programme targeted at resettled households in Newmont’s two resettlement communities (OLA and Ntotoroso), skills development for income improvement (SDIIP), Ahafo Linkages Programme (ALP) and the Ahafo Agribusiness Growth Initiative (AAGI).
The affected communities thus established a Resettlement Negotiation Committee (RNC) composed of community representatives and traditional authorities who are independently nominated and validated to represent the people living in the area.
The RNC, which negotiated with Newmont on resettlement and crop compensation, comprised a former Inspector-General of Police, the District Chief Executive, the District Development Planning Officer, the traditional council, the Land Valuation Board and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.
Newmont says it spent $14 million to construct the two sites. The Ntotoroso Resettlement Village is located immediately south of the existing community of Ntotoroso and spans 398 acres (161 hectares) while the OLA Resettlement Village covers 126 acres (51 hectares) just west of the existing community.
For the first time, the homes and residential plots came with a legal title (99-year leases). Prior to Newmont's resettlement, residents held no titles to the lands they occupied because these were owned by the traditional families and landowners. The legal title has created “pride of ownership” among resettled residents because they now know the land they live on is their own. Residents who lost their residential land received a replacement plot in a resettlement village and farmers received monetary compensation for displaced crops.
Beneficiaries’ Reaction
In the case of Newmont Ghana, it says it acted on the recommendations of the RNC. But given the high status of the different personalities and government agencies that constituted the RNC on one hand, and the type of structures that have been put up in the villages – OLA and Ntotoroso, on the other, one would wonder whether the committee really did a satisfactory work.
Some beneficiaries of the resettlement programme who were interviewed by CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE at Ntotoroso recently on anonymity expressed dissatisfaction at the 10 ×12 dimension rooms that have been built for them.
The beneficiaries maintain the relatively short height of the buildings (without electricity yet), makes living in it slightly uncomfortable. It ranges from one bedroom to five bedroom houses. Each compound has a toilet very detached from the main building.
“We feel hot inside these structures. We were expecting that the structures would have some tint of modernity but since we had no choice, we had to accept these ones. After all, we could not have afforded them,” one wishing only to be known as Kofi told this reporter.
But Kofi Antwi Boasiako, Land Access Manager at Newmont Ahafo, stated in a telephone interview that Newmont played to the dictates of building standards of the Ghana.
“All of the previous structures owned by the affected farmers were farmsteads and these were in dimensions of 5 ×6, 5×7 and 5×8 huts. Also, all the structures have been approved by the Department of Town & Country Planning to conform to government’s development plan,” Mr Boasiako mentioned.
Yaw Antwi Dadzie, External Affairs Manager, Newmont Ghana, adds that Newmont Ghana has decided to improve the second phase of the resettlement project on its own by providing ample space within the new structures under construction and further initiate and compact other relevant facilities.
Newmont’s Ahafo and Akyem projects together have approximately 17.4 million equity ounces of proven and probable gold reserves, representing about 20 percent of Newmont’s global equity gold reserves (86.53 million ounces) as at end of 2008.
The Ahafo mine produces about 500,000 ounces of gold per annum from three pits while the Akyem project is in a feasibility phase.
Newmont is focused on sustainability and environmental best practices and is listed on the Dow Jones sustainability index world. It was recently certified under the International Cyanide Management Code.
AT THIS time and age where most countries in the world are inculcating several forms of modernity into their infrastructural development, especially in their mining areas, the same can still not be said of Ghana and one wonders why Government is just insensitive. Samuel Boadi delves into the issue.
NEWMONT GHANA started operations at its Ahafo Mine in January 2006, went into processing in June of that year and had its first gold pour on July 18, 2006. According to the company, it has made capital investments of up to $1 billion as at end of 2009 and paid royalties totaling $42.3 million as at end of the last quarter of 2009.
This is welcome news particularly considering the quantum of investment involved and the chain of employment it has created in addition to the compact benefits that have accrued to persons affected by the company’s operations.
Newmont’s Ahafo mine boasts of two primary ore zones - North and South, separated by the Bosumkese Forest Reserve. These entail 11 deposits over a 40-kilometer trend. As at 2008, its Ahafo south site had reserves of 5.9 million ounces while its north site had 3.2 million ounces.
Resettling Affected Farmers
In its quest to extract ore from certain locations in its concession, Newmont Ahafo embarked on a land access programme. This involved the resettlement as well as the livelihood re-establishment programmes.
Under the former, over 1,700 households were affected. These entailed some $17 million, while $16 million was spent on crop compensations and $22.3 million on the livelihood re-establishment. The latter encompassed the agriculture improvement and land access programme (AILAP), the vulnerable programme targeted at resettled households in Newmont’s two resettlement communities (OLA and Ntotoroso), skills development for income improvement (SDIIP), Ahafo Linkages Programme (ALP) and the Ahafo Agribusiness Growth Initiative (AAGI).
The affected communities thus established a Resettlement Negotiation Committee (RNC) composed of community representatives and traditional authorities who are independently nominated and validated to represent the people living in the area.
The RNC, which negotiated with Newmont on resettlement and crop compensation, comprised a former Inspector-General of Police, the District Chief Executive, the District Development Planning Officer, the traditional council, the Land Valuation Board and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.
Newmont says it spent $14 million to construct the two sites. The Ntotoroso Resettlement Village is located immediately south of the existing community of Ntotoroso and spans 398 acres (161 hectares) while the OLA Resettlement Village covers 126 acres (51 hectares) just west of the existing community.
For the first time, the homes and residential plots came with a legal title (99-year leases). Prior to Newmont's resettlement, residents held no titles to the lands they occupied because these were owned by the traditional families and landowners. The legal title has created “pride of ownership” among resettled residents because they now know the land they live on is their own. Residents who lost their residential land received a replacement plot in a resettlement village and farmers received monetary compensation for displaced crops.
Beneficiaries’ Reaction
In the case of Newmont Ghana, it says it acted on the recommendations of the RNC. But given the high status of the different personalities and government agencies that constituted the RNC on one hand, and the type of structures that have been put up in the villages – OLA and Ntotoroso, on the other, one would wonder whether the committee really did a satisfactory work.
Some beneficiaries of the resettlement programme who were interviewed by CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE at Ntotoroso recently on anonymity expressed dissatisfaction at the 10 ×12 dimension rooms that have been built for them.
The beneficiaries maintain the relatively short height of the buildings (without electricity yet), makes living in it slightly uncomfortable. It ranges from one bedroom to five bedroom houses. Each compound has a toilet very detached from the main building.
“We feel hot inside these structures. We were expecting that the structures would have some tint of modernity but since we had no choice, we had to accept these ones. After all, we could not have afforded them,” one wishing only to be known as Kofi told this reporter.
But Kofi Antwi Boasiako, Land Access Manager at Newmont Ahafo, stated in a telephone interview that Newmont played to the dictates of building standards of the Ghana.
“All of the previous structures owned by the affected farmers were farmsteads and these were in dimensions of 5 ×6, 5×7 and 5×8 huts. Also, all the structures have been approved by the Department of Town & Country Planning to conform to government’s development plan,” Mr Boasiako mentioned.
Yaw Antwi Dadzie, External Affairs Manager, Newmont Ghana, adds that Newmont Ghana has decided to improve the second phase of the resettlement project on its own by providing ample space within the new structures under construction and further initiate and compact other relevant facilities.
Newmont’s Ahafo and Akyem projects together have approximately 17.4 million equity ounces of proven and probable gold reserves, representing about 20 percent of Newmont’s global equity gold reserves (86.53 million ounces) as at end of 2008.
The Ahafo mine produces about 500,000 ounces of gold per annum from three pits while the Akyem project is in a feasibility phase.
Newmont is focused on sustainability and environmental best practices and is listed on the Dow Jones sustainability index world. It was recently certified under the International Cyanide Management Code.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
E-Book On 2-Week Trial In Ghana
By Samuel Boadi
AMAZONKINDLE, an electronic book capable of holding as many as 1,500 books was on Friday introduced to Class 6 students of OrphanAid Africa Community Centre School at Ahienyah, near Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region.
Worldreader.org, the non-governmental organisation from the United States of America, whose brainchild is the programme, told DAILY GUIDE that it chose the village for the trial in order to acquaint itself with problems that might arise from the use of the books particularly among pupils in order to effect an appropriate updating.
“Ghana is the first country in the world to benefit from such a technology. It uses very little electricity. The battery could last for 2 weeks after charging it for an hour,” project co-founders - Mike Sundermeyer and David Risher have said.
After some short tutorials by the project co-founders, the children were seen easily operating the device with little supervision, accessing and reading several downloaded books. The kindle also has a dictionary and audio reader in addition to a selection of optional text sizes.
Worldreader.org is a foundation which aims at providing library books to children in the remotest parts of the globe.
“Education and literacy are key drivers to economic stability and growth. We need to embrace and develop these tools to ginger wider reading at little or no cost”. Mr Sundermeyer said the NGO will contact telecommunications companies in Ghana and for that matter the whole of Africa, to collaborate with Worldreader.org so as for their customers to access e-books via their mobile phones.
Already, the project co-founders have been in consultation with the Ministry of Education as well as the telecommunications networks to see how best the project could be channeled effectively to all schools in the country.
“This is just the beginning. We will in the near future download books on all the professional courses as well as academic materials onto it. With the kindle, a student at whatever level of education could access a horde of books, read extensively and research well.”
“E-readers can dramatically improve people’s access to books, and we’re proud of our ability to work swiftly to bring this new technology to the Ghanaian people”, Mr Risher indicated to this paper.
Selling at $250 in the US and other parts of Europe, the kindle would be highly subsidised and in most cases supplied freely to schools in Africa.
“Imagine carrying a lot of books in one single device. This is the beauty of the kindle. More important is its ability to design and download all syllabi and courses of study in Ghanaian schools at all levels. Again, it doesn’t need any bulky paper, ink and hard covers. This is paper-free and wholly digitalised.”
AMAZONKINDLE, an electronic book capable of holding as many as 1,500 books was on Friday introduced to Class 6 students of OrphanAid Africa Community Centre School at Ahienyah, near Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region.
Worldreader.org, the non-governmental organisation from the United States of America, whose brainchild is the programme, told DAILY GUIDE that it chose the village for the trial in order to acquaint itself with problems that might arise from the use of the books particularly among pupils in order to effect an appropriate updating.
“Ghana is the first country in the world to benefit from such a technology. It uses very little electricity. The battery could last for 2 weeks after charging it for an hour,” project co-founders - Mike Sundermeyer and David Risher have said.
After some short tutorials by the project co-founders, the children were seen easily operating the device with little supervision, accessing and reading several downloaded books. The kindle also has a dictionary and audio reader in addition to a selection of optional text sizes.
Worldreader.org is a foundation which aims at providing library books to children in the remotest parts of the globe.
“Education and literacy are key drivers to economic stability and growth. We need to embrace and develop these tools to ginger wider reading at little or no cost”. Mr Sundermeyer said the NGO will contact telecommunications companies in Ghana and for that matter the whole of Africa, to collaborate with Worldreader.org so as for their customers to access e-books via their mobile phones.
Already, the project co-founders have been in consultation with the Ministry of Education as well as the telecommunications networks to see how best the project could be channeled effectively to all schools in the country.
“This is just the beginning. We will in the near future download books on all the professional courses as well as academic materials onto it. With the kindle, a student at whatever level of education could access a horde of books, read extensively and research well.”
“E-readers can dramatically improve people’s access to books, and we’re proud of our ability to work swiftly to bring this new technology to the Ghanaian people”, Mr Risher indicated to this paper.
Selling at $250 in the US and other parts of Europe, the kindle would be highly subsidised and in most cases supplied freely to schools in Africa.
“Imagine carrying a lot of books in one single device. This is the beauty of the kindle. More important is its ability to design and download all syllabi and courses of study in Ghanaian schools at all levels. Again, it doesn’t need any bulky paper, ink and hard covers. This is paper-free and wholly digitalised.”
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Aluworks Floats 75m Ordinary Shares
By Samuel Boadi
ALUWORKS is offering 75,000,000 ordinary shares of no par value at GH¢0.40 per share to current and prospective shareholders to raise GH¢30,000 to recapitalize its operations.
The offer is in the ratio of 9 new shares for every 5 existing shares, representing a 9 percent discount off the current market price of GH¢0. 44 per share as at Friday, March 12, 2010.
A.W.B. Barnor, Managing Director of the company, disclosed this on Monday in Accra at a meeting with the press.
According to him, the offer would initially be opened to shareholders.
“In the first instance, current shareholders are allowed 9 shares for every 5 that they already own. They may apply for more than their normal allotment if they so wish. Any shareholder who decides not to partake in the offer must fill an appropriate form to declare so, and must understand that such shares would be allocated to other interested parties,” he added.
Open to both resident and non-resident Ghanaians as well as foreigners, the offer, which began yesterday, ends at 5 pm on Friday, April 16, 2010 while trading in the rights, which also started yesterday, ends on April 9, 2010.
“The GSE has approved the listing of the 75,000,000 new shares to be issued on the first official list and as such trading in these shares would commence on May 12, 2010. Shareholders who wish to exercise their rights and renounces should contact NTHC Securities Limited, Adabraka, the manager and sponsoring broker of the ALW Rights Issue for assistance and direction,” he emphasized.
Explaining further, Mr Barnor said the performance of Aluworks on the GSE shows a creditable price trend since the listing of the company.
“From a listing price of GH¢0.1350 per share in November 1996, the equity grew gradually to hit an all-time high of GH¢1.25 on April 14, 2004.
“As at Friday, March 12, 2010, Aluworks traded at GH¢0.44, signifying a total growth of more than 225 percent over its listing price.
“In addition, the equity has been one of the most actively traded stocks on the exchange over the years,” Mr Barnor reiterated.
The MD added that the dividend history of Aluworks suggest that until 2007, the company had one of the best dividend payment records in the country, explaining that “it paid dividends each year until 2007. The average dividend pay-out was 68 percent.”
W.E. Inkumsah, Board Chairman of Aluworks, in a speech, said the company, which was set up in the late 1970s, started with one 15,000 tonne caster and a 30,000 tone cold mill, noting that “slowly it has increased to three casters of 15,000 tonnes each.”
He stated that there has not been an increase in cold mill capacity since that time, but the 30,000 tonne cold mill has served the company very well over the years because of the very high level of regular maintenance.
“The current cold mill capacity simply needs to be increased to meet the increasing demand that the company expects over the next few years.
“Half of the proceeds of the rights issue will be used to procure a brand new cold mill. The current cold mill will also undergo refurbishment. When that is finished and commissioned, we boast of a 50,000 tonne capacity that will be sufficient to meet the needs of West Africa and beyond.”
In 2006, when the country experienced deep energy crisis, which led to an increased disruption of supply from our traditional local supplier of ingots, the company had to import ingots with an attendant 33 percent increase in cost, which reduced the company’s profit margin.
ALUWORKS is offering 75,000,000 ordinary shares of no par value at GH¢0.40 per share to current and prospective shareholders to raise GH¢30,000 to recapitalize its operations.
The offer is in the ratio of 9 new shares for every 5 existing shares, representing a 9 percent discount off the current market price of GH¢0. 44 per share as at Friday, March 12, 2010.
A.W.B. Barnor, Managing Director of the company, disclosed this on Monday in Accra at a meeting with the press.
According to him, the offer would initially be opened to shareholders.
“In the first instance, current shareholders are allowed 9 shares for every 5 that they already own. They may apply for more than their normal allotment if they so wish. Any shareholder who decides not to partake in the offer must fill an appropriate form to declare so, and must understand that such shares would be allocated to other interested parties,” he added.
Open to both resident and non-resident Ghanaians as well as foreigners, the offer, which began yesterday, ends at 5 pm on Friday, April 16, 2010 while trading in the rights, which also started yesterday, ends on April 9, 2010.
“The GSE has approved the listing of the 75,000,000 new shares to be issued on the first official list and as such trading in these shares would commence on May 12, 2010. Shareholders who wish to exercise their rights and renounces should contact NTHC Securities Limited, Adabraka, the manager and sponsoring broker of the ALW Rights Issue for assistance and direction,” he emphasized.
Explaining further, Mr Barnor said the performance of Aluworks on the GSE shows a creditable price trend since the listing of the company.
“From a listing price of GH¢0.1350 per share in November 1996, the equity grew gradually to hit an all-time high of GH¢1.25 on April 14, 2004.
“As at Friday, March 12, 2010, Aluworks traded at GH¢0.44, signifying a total growth of more than 225 percent over its listing price.
“In addition, the equity has been one of the most actively traded stocks on the exchange over the years,” Mr Barnor reiterated.
The MD added that the dividend history of Aluworks suggest that until 2007, the company had one of the best dividend payment records in the country, explaining that “it paid dividends each year until 2007. The average dividend pay-out was 68 percent.”
W.E. Inkumsah, Board Chairman of Aluworks, in a speech, said the company, which was set up in the late 1970s, started with one 15,000 tonne caster and a 30,000 tone cold mill, noting that “slowly it has increased to three casters of 15,000 tonnes each.”
He stated that there has not been an increase in cold mill capacity since that time, but the 30,000 tonne cold mill has served the company very well over the years because of the very high level of regular maintenance.
“The current cold mill capacity simply needs to be increased to meet the increasing demand that the company expects over the next few years.
“Half of the proceeds of the rights issue will be used to procure a brand new cold mill. The current cold mill will also undergo refurbishment. When that is finished and commissioned, we boast of a 50,000 tonne capacity that will be sufficient to meet the needs of West Africa and beyond.”
In 2006, when the country experienced deep energy crisis, which led to an increased disruption of supply from our traditional local supplier of ingots, the company had to import ingots with an attendant 33 percent increase in cost, which reduced the company’s profit margin.
Afriqiyah Awards Travel Agents
By Samuel Boadi
AFRIQIYAH AIRLINES, a Libyan carrier, on Monday honoured working travel agents who have supported its operations in Ghana with mouth-watering awards.
Ibrahim Hafida, Afriqiyah’s country manager for Ghana, who presented the awards on behalf of his outfit to representatives of the agencies, at the short but splendid ceremony, heaped praises on Seasons Travels, Kessben Travels, Kumasi Travels, Euro Tours, Satguru, Doscar Travels and also Nasa Travels for their immeasurable contribution to Afriqiyah’s success in 2009.
Other awardees included Escaville Travels and Logic Tours.
Mr Hafida appealed to the agencies to continue their good relationship with Afriqiyah adding the airline had more appreciation packages in the pipeline for them.
He also urged them to woo more customers aboard the airline this year so they could enjoy the exceptional fares, unrivalled services and cozy atmosphere.
AFRIQIYAH AIRLINES, a Libyan carrier, on Monday honoured working travel agents who have supported its operations in Ghana with mouth-watering awards.
Ibrahim Hafida, Afriqiyah’s country manager for Ghana, who presented the awards on behalf of his outfit to representatives of the agencies, at the short but splendid ceremony, heaped praises on Seasons Travels, Kessben Travels, Kumasi Travels, Euro Tours, Satguru, Doscar Travels and also Nasa Travels for their immeasurable contribution to Afriqiyah’s success in 2009.
Other awardees included Escaville Travels and Logic Tours.
Mr Hafida appealed to the agencies to continue their good relationship with Afriqiyah adding the airline had more appreciation packages in the pipeline for them.
He also urged them to woo more customers aboard the airline this year so they could enjoy the exceptional fares, unrivalled services and cozy atmosphere.
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