Mind your language - Sam Jonah

Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited, Dr (Sir) Sam Jonah, KBE, has advised Ghanaians to refrain from utterances and tendencies that hamper the strenuous efforts of the government and corporate entities at attracting foreign investments. He said the entire African continent is already viewed as a place beset with famine, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, socio-political instability and not conducive to investment, hence the need for all to work in concert with the government in attracting investments for the development of the country.

Dr Jonah gave the advice at the opening session of the eighth quadrennial delegates conference of the Ghana Mine Workers' Union of the Trades Union Congress in Accra. The three-day conference is on the theme, " Mining and Sustainable Development- The Role of the Social Partner".

Dr Jonah stated that apart from the cost of doing business, political stability and the availability of infrastructure, investors also take into consideration statements and activities of the people in the country where they intend to put their money.

He cited an instance where a Ghanaian NGO, out of malice, filmed some mining areas as a documentary that mining firms in the country are treating the environment with careless abandon and showed it on Swedish television recently.

He said the producer of the documentary also claimed that such mining companies also kill people living in mining communities by releasing dogs to attack them and throwing them into mining shafts, among others, adding that these are sensitive issues which are not backed by facts.

According Dr Jonah, the issue has generated much international interest and has also made Ashanti Goldfields? operations a topical subject for discussion at the forthcoming Global Compact Meeting, adding that ?my office is currently inundated with a lot of letters from shareholders and other constituencies throughout the world seeking explanation to the allegations that were made by the NGO?.

He indicated that as of now, no financial institution in the world will offer loan to any mining company whose operations do not meet, at least, the environmental standard levels set by the World Bank, and also other standards set by the government of the country in question.

He said with the promulgation of the 1986 Mine and Minerals Law, the conducive atmosphere was created which culminated in the country attracting a lot of investment to the tune of over $4 billion in the mining industry, ?but Tanzania, Burkina Faso and Guinea copied our laws and improved upon them which has made them more attractive than Ghana?.

The Minister of Mines, Mrs Cecilia Bannerman commended mining companies for initiating the alternative livelihood concept by teaming up with other social partners to develop sustainable alternative means of livelihood projects, which the communities can depend on long after mining operations have ceased in the communities.