Farmers, landowners warn EP Liaison Group over Newmont programme

Under the name Newmont Akyem Affected Farmers Association (NAAFA), the farmers

and land-owners affected by the mining activities of Newmont Gold Company at Akyem, in the Eastern Region, are accusing the Liaison Group of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of sabotaging a programme meant to bring them some relief.

The farmers and landowners are calling on the Group to withdraw from the Agriculture Improvement programme and any other programmes designed by Newmont Gold Company to mitigate the effects of their mining activities in the area.

In a petition signed by various leaders of the affected community members numbering about 1600, the farmers and landowners are warning that if the Liaison Group fails to withdraw from the programme by October 16, 2023, they shall resort to other means to seek their rights.

“We hope that this withdrawal will be done no later than October 16, 2023, to bring peace and harmony between Newmont and the communities. If by October 16 the liaison Group does not withdraw their participation and involvement to Newmont and the Livelihood Committee, we shall advise ourselves”, they said.

They narrate that the Newmont Gold Company had taken over their farmlands, leading to poverty in the communities.

“It is this situation that made the company engage stakeholders to form the Livelihood Committee".

“These engagements took us almost three years; it was agreed that Newmont would help all farmers and land owners affected by the mining activities to establish new farms. Newmont also agreed to pay for the establishment and maintenance of the farms for three years. Others who were sick or too old or were not interested in farming were to be supported to establish businesses. We all know that farming depends mainly on seasons and more so on the weather

patterns", they explained.

NAAFA explained that when those engagements took place, they did not hear or

know of any group called Liaison Group until the programme started in a timely

distribution of seeds, seedlings chemicals and others by the district office of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

“To our surprise, we were informed by Newmont that a group from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called Liaison Group, said the support was not enough, therefore the programme must be halted for them to take over. They promised to increase the amount and the acreage from two to five acres,” NAAFA recounted. However, the farmers claim the intervention has rather turned into a sabotage".

“Rather to our disappointment, the Liaison Group came to sabotage the programme for over six months, when they later came with surveyors from Accra to inspect our farmlands in the Birim North District in November 2022, as if there were no surveyors in the Eastern Region and they came to pay cheques for clearing in July 2023.”

“What type of clearing is the farmer expected to do in July in Ghana? We doubt their sincerity to this programme,” the petition alleged.

“We don’t understand why a regulatory body like the Liaison Group has to travel from Accra with workers to come and distribute cheques to farmers in Akyem, at whose expense is this done? We need to be clear that this programme was never initiated by the Liaison Group but by the Livelihood Committee. Please can the Liaison Group identify any direct social intervention programme directed or targeted mainly to farmers and land-owners in the affected communities since you were established", they stated.

The farmers suspect the Liaison Group is pursuing personal interests rather than the farmers' interests.

“If the Liaison Group, the regulator, has no personal interest or any hidden agenda to sabotage the programme, then we appeal to the Group to revert their services to the livelihood committee and Newmont”, they said.

They have issued a warning to react if, by October 16, the Group doesn’t withdraw.

They are also advising the Liaison Group to desist from secretly calling on chiefs to intervene in the matter.

Farmers and landowners in the catchment area of Newmont Gold Company Akyem

project have problems like compensation and other issues with the company.