Osagyefo Amanfo Edu VI, the Omanhen of Mankessim Traditional Area, has declared lithium exploration communities under his jurisdiction as Artificial Disaster Zones, demanding immediate national intervention.
The Omanhen’s declaration was born out of the government’s withdrawal of the lithium mining agreement from Parliament to allow for further stakeholder consultations, after two years of failing to pay due compensation because of the delays in ratification by Parliament.
Though the Omanhen was not against the agreement withdrawal, he said the situation had exacerbated the plight of the affected people, as the festive season had been eclipsed by hopelessness and a grip of uncertainty in the area.
Making the declaration at a presser, the Omanhen painted a harrowing picture saying: “Despite Christmas looming just days away, countless farmers lie impoverished, barred from sowing vital crops, their homes besieged and lands seized without a dime in compensation.
“You just picture this,” the Omanhen thundered in his compelling address.
He said although his subjects were not heaped together in a disorderly tents like refugees in war-torn wastelands, yet the choking fog of apprehension, the raw frustration and the simmering rage of an uncertain tomorrow, had forged an artificial disaster more insidious than any storm.
The Chief said the Atlantic Lithium Company’s delayed ratification was not just stalling the company, but “it is strangling our souls, poisoning our prosperity and igniting a ticking time bomb that threatens the very fabric of my people and our nation.”
He said the government should act now, or Christmas bells will toll over broken dreams, noting the fact that the plights of the people were born not of nature’s fury but of the governments delay and unheeded pleas demanding swift action to avert a humanitarian crisis.
The Omanhen denounced the misconception and apprehension that the lithium agreement withdrawal from Parliament meant cancellation of the Ewoyaa Lithium project.
He described the rumour as baseless, unfortunate and unfounded and should be treated with the contempt it deserved.
Instead, the Omanhen explained that the lithium agreement withdrawal came after significant opposition from some civil society organisations, industry experts and a push for better terms for the country.
He said the move will enable the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to undertake further consultations with relevant stakeholders just their recent engagement with Parliamentary Select Committee on Lands and Natural Resources and CSOs on concerns with the lithium agreement.
The Omanhen said, the initial agreement with Barari DV Ghana Limited (a subsidiary of Atlantic Lithium) included a proposed royalty rate of 10 per cent, 13 per cent free carried interest for the state, a plan for value-addition activities like establishing a chemical plant.
He said some CSOs and politicians criticised the proposed 10 percent royalty rate, with some arguing it was a “mediocre move.”
But he said, the Parliamentary Committee on Lands and Natural Resources indicated the 10 per cent rate was inconsistent with the existing law of Ghana which stipulated a five per cent royalty, requiring an amendment to the Minerals and Mining Act for a higher rate to be enforceable.
The government, listening to all concerns had decided to pull the agreement from the House for review, with the possibility of a revised deal being presented later.
He said the move had been seen as a win-win situation by advocacy groups who hope for a better deal for Ghana would be negotiated, but while waiting for it, his people whose farmlands and homes had been destroyed must be compensated for them to survive.
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