Zain Ghana operations in danger

Information available to Financial Intelligence suggests that the decision by the Ministry of Communications to send the Western Telesystems Ltd (Westel)/Zain deal to parliament for a belated approval could in itself open another can of worms in the matter of divestitures involving State Owned Enterprises in recent times.

This decision, according to experts, lends credence to the suggestion that Zain Ghana has operated illegally since its entrance into the Ghanaian telecommunications market, as there was no parliamentary approval for the $125 million deal between Government of Ghana and Mo Ibrahim’s Zain.

Many experts are questioning the intention of government to ratify a sale agreement that had sidelined a constitutional body, the Divestiture Implementation Committed (DIC), mandated to deal professionally with such sales of state enterprises.

An expert this paper contacted on the issue pointed out that Government must follow due process in ensuring that DIC plays its role to set the tone for Parliamentary approval.

Unlike the Ghana Telecom/Vodafone deal which had had some parliamentary endorsement, albeit, controversial, inclusion of the National Communications Authority (NCA) at certain stages, and a belated DIC handing-over, the Zain acquisition did not involve any of these institutions.

The Telecommunications expert who was part of the Inter-Ministerial Committee set up to review the Ghana Telecom/Vodafone deal, Ben Adu, for instance has questioned why the ministry would be seeking to seek Parliamentary approval for a divestiture which was carried out without the DIC.

“People must begin to understand that the major intention for setting up the committee to review the Vodafone deal was to establish the culture of due process in Ghana,” he argued. Dr. Adu suggested that for any parliamentary approval to be sought for such a deal, care must be taken that the due process has been followed.

A few weeks ago the Financial Intelligence (FI) revealed under the headline “Illegal divestitures Zain, Vodafone trapped’ that the Zain deal was also done without the participation of the DIC.

In fact, extensive search at the DIC offices produced no single document on the SPA between Government of Ghana and Zain on the sale of Westel.

Executive Secretary of the DIC, Asaakua Agambila who incidentally was secretary to the previous DIC board stated categorically that the committee had nothing at all to do with the Zain deal.

In an interview with the FI Communications Minister, Haruna Iddrissu conceded there were problems associated with the Zain deal and promised to consult his appointing authorities as to how to handle it.

In the previous Monday, October 19 edition of the Daily Graphic, it was reported that a source at the Communications ministry had intimated that the Westel/Zain deal would soon be laid before Parliament for ratification.

As to who would order the ratification, the paper did not state, but according to Article 75 of 1992 Constitution, “a treaty, agreement or convention executed by or under the authority of the President shall be subject to ratification by an act of Parliament or a resolution of Parliament. Article 108 provides for the manner in which financial bills and motions with financial implications may be brought before Parliament for consideration.

Article 181 (1) and (5) of the 1992 Constitution provide that (1) “Parliament may, by a
resolution supported by the votes of a majority of all the members of parliament,
authorize the Government to enter into an agreement for the granting of a loan out of
any public fund or public account” and (5) “This article shall, with the necessary
modifications by Parliament, apply to an international business or economic
transaction to which the Government is a party as it applies to a loan.”

“Parliament does not have any mandate to execute an international agreement by virtue
of article 75 of the Constitution. That is the domain of the Executive.” The Vodafone Review committee argued, noting further, that “article108 provides that Parliament shall not, unless the Bill is introduced or the motion is introduced by, or on behalf of, the President, proceed on a Bill or motion with financial and tax implications for Ghana.”

By, this and as was sought to be done in the Vodafone deal, parliament can only act on the authority of the president to ratify such a deal. But, whether or not President Mills would approve of the Zain deal belatedly in the midst of all the problems surrounding it is yet to be known.

Celtel International, a subsidiary of Zain (formerly named the MTC Group) in 2007 signed an agreement to acquire 75% of Westel from the Government of Ghana for USD 120 million.

By that deal Government of Ghana remains a shareholder in Westel with a 25% holding through the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.

Zain followed through to roll out its 3.5G network in the country, with Managing Director, Chris Gabriel disclosing to President Mills at the Castle that Zain had invested over $420 million in Ghana since it acquired the Westel Shares.

All these have however been done on the backs of what appears to be an illegal divestiture procedure, since the entity entrusted with the responsibility of implementing government divestitures, the DIC, had been totally ignored in the whole divestiture process.

The former Managing Director of Westel, Ursula Owusu said it was a sub-committee of the Ministry of Communication, together with officials of the Finance and Justice and the State Enterprises Commission that implemented the divestiture.

She believes that since the shares were originally those of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, and that it was not a complete acquisition that Zain did, there was no wrong doing in the sidelining of DIC.

The exclusion of DIC in from the divestiture process was one of the major causes of illegality identified in the sale of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone.

By: Justice Lee Adoboe

OMCs remain resilient

Despite TOR shut down, price volatility

The oil marketing industry is fast establishing itself as one of the most profitable ventures in the country, with players making significant profits even in the toughest of times.

Despite frequent shortages in petroleum products in the country and the dramatic price swings on the global crude markets in the first nine months of the year, Total Petroleum Ghana Limited and Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) managed to squeeze out from declining sales, some appreciable profit margins.

In their recent third quarter financial reports released to the GSE, the two listed companies reported significant improvement in their bottom lines.

Total, the Industry leader, saw its turnover dip 12 per cent, with sales figures plummeting from GH¢430,018,000 recorded in 2008 to GH¢376,362,000.

But the oil marketing company (OMC) managed to push down cost of sales significantly, resulting in enhanced operating profits. Costs fell 16 per cent to GH¢344,562,000.

The reduction in sales costs could be attributed to prudent management and the near-completion of the company’s restructuring exercise since the Mobil merger. Declines in operations costs for the OMC could also be attributed to less frequent pump price changes this year, a situation that had forced OMC to demand an increase in the fuel margins last year.

There was however a higher jump of 25 per cent in TOTAL’s administrative expense to GH¢21,412,000 for the first nine months of 2009.

More impressively, the company’s operating profits soared 106 per cent to GH¢10,388,000, with after tax profits also advancing 140 per cent to GH¢9,967,000.
Third quarter results for GOIL, the other major contender in the oil marketing sector, depicted a similar trend.

GOIL recorded a dip in its turnover of 12 per cent but managed to boost its bottom line substantially. The company’s after tax profits went up 82 per cent from GH¢2,371,000 in prior year to GH¢4,307,000 by the end of the first nine months of 2009.

This was underpinned by a solid growth in the company’s operating profits of 76 per cent to GH¢6,823,000, thanks to a drop in sales cost from GH¢ 314,854,000 in Q3 2008 to GH¢270,981,000 in Q3 2009.

GOIL could also not tame its administrative expenses which went up 14 per cent to GH¢12,042,000.

Even though third quarter report for Shell was not readily available, Financial Intelligence checks revealed that the company remains resilient and profiting despite the hitches. Shell, the second largest participant in the sector and operating in the Over the Counter (OTC) market, remains one of the most enviable operators in Ghana’s downstream petroleum sector.

Even though most OMCs complained bitterly about the occasional product shortages that hit the nation as a result of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) shut down, giants in the industry including Total, GOIL and Shell, took the challenge in stride. The three companies together have about 70 per cent of market share among them.

With the cut in supply to defaulting OMCs by the TOR, big players including the two companies stand to witness an impressive final quarter.

In the heat of the global economic meltdown, oil prices peaked at $147 per barrel in July 2008 and remained volatile until it hit a low $30 per barrel this year. Even though price volatility impacted negatively on their operations, Total’s turnover increased 41% by the close of 2008 to GH¢571,499,000 whilst GOIL bagged GH¢4,156,348 in after tax profits for the past year.

With the OMCs impressive performance in recent times following the deregulation of the sector, it would not be surprising to see government fall on it for additional resources in difficult times, just as the banking and communications sector bare the brunt in times of mobilizing extra resources for stabilization.

By:Charles K. Amoah)

Investors outsmart equities market– Databank

Recovery now for 2010

Sampson Akligoh, a Senior Economic Analyst at Databank Financial Services Limited, has noted that equity investors on the Ghana stock exchange took the opportunity to cash out of the market when some signs of recovery emerged, pushing further ahead expected recovery on the Ghanaian bourse.

According to him, market recovery will remain sluggish through the remaining sessions in the year as fixed income yields remain high and attractive.

He as a result foresees the Databank Stock Index (DSI), a capitalization weighted index developed by the Databank Group, closing 2009 at a Year-to-date loss of between 20% and 22%.

In an interview with the Financial Intelligence, Mr Akligoh noted that this trend of exit will not be sustained, saying that the strong earning results during the immediate quarter should sustain the seemingly confidence that is now emerging.

“With a decline in the P/E ratio from 13.1 as at the end of 2008 to 10.45 as at October, 2009 the market has become relatively cheap, and I believe this will spur investor interest in the stock market especially into 2010,” Mr Akligoh noted.

“This is likely to be supported by improved nine-month figures by most of the listed companies.

“With inflation showing signs of softening, interest rates are also likely to decline which could ease the current obsession with the fixed income market in favour of the equity market,” the analyst commented.

He further explained that the improvement in the global economy combined with the relative stability of the cedi is likely to facilitate renewed interest in the stock market, especially if interest rates decline in the next six months.

Commenting on recent Right Issues of listed banks, Mr Akligoh pointed out that current conditions on the market does not make it ripe to raise money through the equity market, but he was quick to add that, “investors deal with companies on their own merit during periods of systemic risk. Most of the companies undertaking the right issues are likely to be successfully because they are strong growth and value companies.”

Standard Chartered Bank’s show of significant resilience during the crisis, he noted, makes it a good stock investors should not shy away from despite the general stock market pessimism.

He confirmed the FI’ assertion that the Ecobank and SG-SSB offers were also billed for success.

He noted that even though banks could have routed for a new deadline for recapitalization in view of current challenges by means of an industry-wide consensus, “the idea of capitalization as it pertains to most banks operating in Ghana is a matter of necessity rather than a norm; as it will enable them to play important roles in the anticipated oil economy”.

He acknowledged that the options of private placement as being done by the non-listed banks such as IBG and Fidelity was in the right direction, adding that since our debt market is underdeveloped, raising long term debt may be costly compared to equity capital.

Dilating on factors that culminated in declines on the Ghanaian bourse this year, the seasoned analyst noted that it stemmed from three key dynamics. “The first being that most shares were overvalued as at the end of 2008; the second being that interest rate hikes led domestic investors to shift their funds towards the fixed income market; and finally the fallout from the global financial crisis kept investors away from Ghana’s financial market prior to Q3-2009 mainly due to currency risk exposure”.

By:Charles Amoah

New environmental Sanitation policy to focus on sustainable funding-Afriyie-Ankrah

Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Elvis Afrieyie-Ankrah has said that the new Environmental Sanitation law, soon to be approved by Cabinet, would among other things; address the issue of sustainable funding for the sector.,

He said this has been necessitated by the fact that sanitation service is capital-intensive involving expensive equipment, infrastructure and labour.

Mr. Afriyie Ankrah made this known in a speech read for him at the opening of the just ended West African Regional Sanitation and Hygiene Symposium held in Accra.

The aim of the Regional Symposium was to build on the achievements of the International Year of Sanitation held in 2008, identifying and sharing ideas on good practices in the promotion of good hygiene behavior and ensuring sustained access to sanitation in particular for the poor and vulnerable in West Africa.

It was also to identify and initiate joint action-learning as well as support the continuing process of developing a community of practice on sanitation and hygiene promotion at the West African level.

“Environmental Sanitation, particularly waste management is a major challenge for all Metropolitant, Municipal and District Assemblies, in the country, Mr. Afriyie-Ankrah noted, adding, “It is however refreshing that there is increasing commitment from government, Development Partners and indeed all stakeholders towards reversing the continuous deterioration of sanitation situations in the country.”

He said the new policy would also therefore focus on other important areas such as Capacity Development, Information Education and Communication, Legislation and Regulation, Levels of Service, Research and Development as well as Monitoring and Evaluation.

Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Esi Awuah on her part believes that government can save a lot of resources from health delivery if sanitation was looked at properly.

She lamented the fact that the nation spends over $ 700 million on the treatment of malaria and respiratory tract infections which are all sanitation related, while at the same time the budget for the water sector is only $30 million.

“Even water provision does not take into account, sanitation and hygiene,” she noted adding that more work needs to be done in the water and sanitation delivery sector to be able to attain the Millennium Development Goals in those sectors.

Prof. Awuah who is also the Accra Coordinator for Sustainable Water, Improves Tomorrow’s Cities Health (SWITCH), one of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working in the water and sanitation sector called for a scaling up of the budgetary allocation for the water and sanitation sector, stressing that “every $100 million invested in the water and sanitation sector would yield a nine-fold dividend.”

She said when this is done, people would then be healthy to work, and the money spent on health care can also then be channeled into other productive areas that would catalyse growth.

Prof. Awuah bemoaned the fact that leadership seems not to understand the issues at stake properly and continues to tackle crucial issues in the sector poorly. “Government believes in seeing the physical facility in place,” she observed.

She noted, for instance that while governments took the right steps in establishing the Sewerage Receptive facilities in Accra and Tema, they did not make provision for skilled labour for them.

Those receptive facilities need trained sanitation engineers with Masters and Doctorate degrees on site to man them. Since those appointed to man them do not have the requisite trainings, the plants were run down in no time and have since not been revived.

She also believes that the issue of the provision of Central Sewerage Systems for cities, need to be looked at again, since they have not been working as planned for.

Participants were drawn from various CSOs and state agencies as well as Development partners working in the various West African countries to share ideas on how to scale up sanitation in communities in the sub-region to ensure good hygienic living for the people.

Some of the major sponsors of the symposium are West Africa Water Institute (WAWI), WaterAid, Unicef, Water Supply and Sanitation Council, RCN Ghana and IRC.

By: Justice Lee Adoboe

EXPERTS GATHER IN GHANA TO DEVELOP IMPROVED STANDARDS FOR AFRICAN ELECTIONS

More than 100 practitioners and experts on elections from 25 African countries will convene in Accra Nov. 12-14, to assess recent elections across the continent and develop recommendations for standards that could mitigate conflict and improve election processes. Recommendations from the colloquium will be aimed at enhancing prospects for credible elections in Africa by heightening standards of professionalism among election administration officials, political parties, civic groups, security services and the media.

The Colloquium on African Elections: Best Practices and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration will focus on Ghana's 2008 elections, which were universally viewed as credible despite heated political tensions and a razor-thin margin between the candidates. Participants hope to draw on lessons from the experience in Ghana, where for the second time in less than a decade, political power has changed hands from the ruling to an opposition party through the ballot box. Effective collaboration among all sectors of the electoral process helped ease tensions, enhanced transparency and built voter confidence in the election results.

Participants will also explore the differences between the Ghanaian experience and elections in other countries such as Kenya and Zimbabwe, which experienced gross irregularities, fraud and conflict. They will identify the factors that contributed to different outcomes in each of these cases and discuss how to foster credible elections on the continent based on these case studies.

"This is an opportunity for Africans to reflect on our own experiences and build upon our successes. As a regional initiative, this conference will bolster electoral reformers, and civic and political stakeholders on the continent," said Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, chair of the Electoral Commission in Ghana.
At the conclusion of the colloquium, participants will release a communiqué summarizing their discussions and sharing their recommendations for election standards in Africa.

Co-organizers of the colloquium include the National Democratic Institute, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, Open Society Initiative for West Africa and United Nations Development Programme.

SFO Ghana begins probe into GT sale

…but Vodafone wants to top-up
Impeccable information available to the Financial Intelligence (FI) indicates that Ghana's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched preliminary investigations into the sale of Ghana Telecommunications Ltd (GTL) to Vodafone International Holdings BV (VIHBV).

In order to gather independent information on the sale, the SFO has sent letters to all institutions connected in any way to the now infamous deal to provide information to the office.

Some of the institutions are Vodafone Ghana, National Communications Authority (NCA) the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) as well as some individuals who are believed to have played important roles in the transaction.

As at last week, SFO sent a letter to the Ministry of Communications demanding a copy of the review committee report to help it in its investigations.

According to the FI sources close to the SFO, this preliminary investigation may serve as a prelude to a full-blown investigation into a transaction that threatens to mar the long standing relationship between Ghana and her former colonial master, Britain.

Information put out by the Mail in London last week had it that the British SFO also wanted to investigate Vodafone's 450 million Pound acquisition of GT, however the Ghana SFO, according to our source says whatever the British counterpart would be doing would just be complementary of what SFO Ghana does, since the primary duty, "is ours," to find out what was done wrong.

SFO Ghana, for instance would like to find out how the former Deputy British High Commissioner Menna Rawlings became a representative of Government of Ghana when it met Vodafone on November 9, 2007.

FI sources in UK also speak of attempts by the British government to pressure Ghana government to abandon any further action on the Vodafone saga. The sources spoke of the potential huge embarrassment both Buckingham Palace and No 10 Downy Street believe the Vodafone deal in Ghana threatens to bring upon the Isle.

"The British government is therefore sending a delegation to Ghana to come and hold discussions with their Ghanaian counterparts on Vodafone," the source revealed, explaining that the case is a slap in the face of Britain since it has the potential of revealing British corrupt practices on the globe. Meanwhile international relations sources also say that the US is happy about the predicament in which Britain seems to have found herself in Ghana.

According to the source, one of the approaches the British government has suggested to Vodafone is to plead for a top-up of the $ 900 million they paid Ghana government, and FI has already picked up hints from government sources that Vodafone has actually offered to top up their price money.

However government is also said to be reluctant even to discuss it since many more revelations about the deal keep pouring in by the day.

According to documents in our possession, as at 31st December 2007, the Transaction Advisors to government on the privatisation of Ghana Telecom, had given GT an Indicative Value of $ 1,613 billion and had secured a $1,075 billion bid for 66.67% of the original GT. However, their services were dispensed with before they could finish their work.

It is also clear that while Ecobank Development Corporation (EDC) the Transactions Advisors were still in the process of short-listing the applicants, the then government was at the same time holding discussions with Vodafone at the seat of government.

Experts therefore believe that in the light of the foregoing, Government of Ghana must endeavour to base its strategy on allowing all the facts to come in, which may enable it to cite Vodafone officials for fraud. This will create the appropriate conditions for renegotiation.

Source; Financial intelligence (Justice Lee Adoboe)

Listed Banks overcome market hiccups

The Initial fears that gripped banks listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) that they might not be able to raise sufficient funds as they return to the primary markets has been discarded with investors showing their willingness to maintain their stake in financial stocks despite current challenges.

Financial Intelligence’s close monitoring of on-going Rights Issue among three key universal banking institutions, Ecobank Ghana limited, CAL Bank and SG-SSB has shown signs of success.

In the case of Ecobank, FI sources indicate that there has been massive over-subscription, with most institutional as well as individual investors exercising their Rights.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI)’s Rights, which it appropriately exercised, had already guaranteed the success of the Issue, as the parent company held close to 88 per cent stake in the company.

Ecobank Ghana Limited had put on the market 28,597,122 million ordinary shares of no par value at GH¢2.78 per share in the ratio of one new share for every seven existing shares held.

The offer which took place between October 2, to October 20, 2009 sought to raise additional capital of GH¢ 79.5 million to meet the regulator’s new capital requirement and to undertake expansion projects. The minimum amount to be raised for the offer to be declared successful is GH¢25 million. Full results of the offer are expected to be made public by the close of this week.

Ecobank hoped to increase its stated capital to GH¢ 100 million, for which at its Annual General Meeting in March 2009, the board sought the permission of shareholders to transfer 4.1 million from income surplus account to stated capital account and to issue 40,306,250 shares credited as fully paid shares to shareholders of the bank on a pro-rata basis.

CAL Bank Limited on the other hand put on the market 150 million ordinary shares of no par value at GH¢0.20 (20Gp) per share in the ratio of one (1) new share for every 1.1275 existing shares held.

The FI has been told that the CAL Offer which took place between October 2, and 20 also has a greater chance for success. The bank had embarked on a road show in key European markets, where a number of foreign investors reportedly rooted for the stock, should shareholders renounce their rights.

Despite harsh market conditions, CAL which came to the market with an IPO price of GH¢ 0.20 in 2004 still trades at GH¢0.20, making it a favoured stock.
SG-SSB’s offer ends on November 5, and the FI has already witnessed a number of passionate investors exercising their rights following the bank’s timely release of an impressive third quarter results.

The bank has put on the market 57,500,000 million ordinary shares of no par value at GH¢0.40 (40Gp) per share to qualifying shareholders in the ratio of one new share for every five shares held.

Latest on the market is Standard Chartered Bank (SCB)’s 1,655,172 ordinary shares of nor par value at GH¢ 29 per share, in the offer which is scheduled for November 10 to December 1, 2009.

The Offer is to raise GH¢48 million to shore up the banks capital base. In view of SCB’s impressive dividend offer history, most analysts expect investors, both institutional and individual, to at least hold on to their stake.

These success stories come as a sharp contrast to what several capital market and banking sector analysts had predicted with the eminent dry-up of investible funds on both the local and international markets following the financial crisis.

This paper had earlier reported of an uneasy calm among these banking institutions who could not receive early approvals for their Offers as a result of the absence of a board for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the first six months of the year.

The offers as a result, had to run concurrently in the last quarter of the year, putting more pressure on limited investor resources.
The banks have had to go to the primary market at a time average stock prices had fallen close to 50 per cent. With stocks already selling at huge discounts, most analysts had predicted the primary market might not after all provide a new attraction.

There is also the view that the market might not have hit the bottom yet, as a result of which investors could hold on to ‘a wait-to-see’ attitude.

Ghana’s banks have been in a desperate search for investor resources to meet the regulators new capital requirement before the December 2009 deadline for foreign banks, and the December 2012 deadline for local players. Under the directive, banks with local majority share ownership will have to attain a capitalization of at least GH¢ 25 million by the end of 2010 and GH¢60 million by 2012.

Failure to meet the deadline would see a bank miss the prospect of operating with a Class 1 banking license.

The new requirement of GH¢ 60 million is expected to deepen the lending capacity of the banking sector to participate in big ticket transactions and to provide long term financing support as Ghana strives to become a middle income economy. It has also been seen as a strategy to build up the country’s own financial services sector to fund future oil projects.

Even though some analysts had called for a much higher recapitalization requirement, the current figure could even likely trigger some consolidation in the sector as smaller unlisted banks, most of whom are seeking refuge in private placements, might experience some difficulty in boosting their capital.

Foreign owned banks such as Guaranty Trust Bank, Intercontinental Bank and UBA have relied on the financial muscle of their parent banks to meet the new requirement in time and to remain in Ghana’s lucrative banking industry which currently consists of 27 players.

By:Charles K. Amoah

EPA bares teeth at Golden Star Resources

…but CSO wants more action

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has tasked the Golden Star Resources to backfill its Plant North Pit (PNP) before it moves to the second phase of its mining project in the Prestea and Bogoso areas in the Western Region.

The EPA warned that unless the miners backfill the PNP, the agency would not process any future applications for them.

In a letter dated September 8, 2009, the EPA stated that; "We wish to draw your attention to the fact that the North Plant Pit was permitted in 2002. However, your company has not completely fulfilled its legal obligations towards the backfilling after mining the potential reserve in the pit in November, 2007."

The statement further stated that, "the agency therefore takes a very serious view of these violations," warning "We therefore wish to state in NO UNCERTAIN terms that until the Plant North Pit is completely backfilled, rehabilitated, and approved, the agency will NOT PROCESS any application from your company."

In a sharp response, Voices of Tomorrow’s Leaders Foundation (VOTOLEAF) commended the agency for the bold steps taken to ensure that Golden Star does the right thing. It also however called on the EPA to compel Golden Star Resources, Bogoso Prestia mines to backfill all 45 mine pits it created in Prestea, Dumase, Twigyaa and Bogoso areas.

The group, a Civil Society Organization (CSO) which has been working to make Golden Star Resources responsible in their mining activities contends that this must be done before the mining company is allowed to start the second phase of their mining activities in the area.

This was contained in a letter of commendation VOTOLEAF sent to the EPA on their ordering of Golden Star to backfill the PNP.

"We wish to remind the EPA that the PNP is not the only legacy Golden Star Resources Bogoso Prestea mine wants to leave behind as it struggles to move to a second phase," VOTOLEAF's statement noted, adding that the company had created 45 mine pits in Prestea, Dumase, Twigyaa, Bogoso areas, " and we wish to call on the EPA to ensure that the company backfills all the abandoned pits, some of which have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes because they are filled with water."

VOTOLEAF has over the years been complaining about the destruction of the sources of livelihood for the people, especially the youth, in the operational areas of Golden Star Resources in the Western Region. They contend that the unemployment, pollution, destruction of rivers and a host of problems in the area are attributable to the operations of Golden Star Resources.

They also deemed it unfortunate that although the chiefs and people of Prestea foresaw the problems and resisted the establishment of the PNP of Golden Star Resources, authorities went ahead and granted the rights to the miners, "and we have been witnesses to the pain and suffering that the people of Prestea and Himan have been through as the PNP has become a symbol of pain and suffering of the people in Prestea and Himan."

VOTOLEAF expressed relief that after a long struggle of the people, hand-in-hand with groups such as WACAM and VOTOLEAF the regulators have shown that given the right support, they are able to bite.

The CSO also believes that the country has very useful lessons from the conflicts and tensions associated with PNP projects of Golden Star Resources, Bogoso Prestea Mine.

"An important lesson is that Ghana needs to have a law prohibiting mining close to human settlements to prevent the problems that the people of Prestea,Dumase and Himan have gone through." It added hat the nation also ought to listen to mining communities more than "we are doing now."

The letter which was signed by the Executive Director of VOTOLEAF, Joe Emmanuel Nkrumah also called on the EPA to assert its independence to be able to play its regulatory role.

By: Justice Lee Adoboe