Kofi Ahovi

 A devastating incident which reportedly occurred on January 8, 2025, at Newmont's Ahafo South mines, where police officers protecting the site shot and killed three people, injuring others. The victims, believed to be indigenous to Acherensua in the Ahafo region, were allegedly engaged in illegal mining activities on the concession. Wacam, a human rights organization, has expressed extreme concern over the incident, citing excessive use of force by security agencies. The organization argues that the response was disproportionate to the allegation of trespassing, leading to unnecessary deaths and injuries. This incident has sparked widespread outrage and condemnation among the youth, traditional authorities, and neighboring communities. Many stakeholders, including civil society organizations and human rights defenders, have raised concerns about the growing tensions in mining communities, particularly those affected by Newmont's Ahafo mines. Wacam emphasizes that this incident...

 A joint statement from WACAM, the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), and the Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis (CEIA) has shed light on the devastating effects of surface mining operations in Ghana. To address these issues, the groups propose a non-partisan approach, uniting stakeholders to tackle critical concerns. The non-partisan strategy includes a moratorium on new mining licenses to prevent further environmental degradation and social displacement, a joint citizens' mass actions to mobilize communities, civil society, and government agencies and reviewing and strengthening laws to incorporate robust environmental safeguards and hold mining companies accountable. According to the groups, the consequences of inaction are dire, with mining operations displacing indigenous communities and contaminating drinking water sources. The group also blamed the Minerals and Mining Act (2006) for failing to hold mining companies accountable for environmental violations. The joi...

 Wacam, in collaboration with The Fund for Global Human Rights (TFGHR), has equipped representatives of mining companies in the Ahafo Region with paralegal knowledge to guide and empower them in their dealings with Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL). About 50 participants drawn from five communities—Yamfo, Adrobaa, Techire, Susuanso and Afrisipakrom in the Tano North Municipality of the Ahafo Region—were taken through the fundamental human rights and legal frameworks on the mining sector in the country including a presentation on the review of the Minerals and Mining Act, Act 703 as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution. Addressing the participants at a workshop in Sunyani on Thursday, May 18, 2023, the Technical Director of Wacam, a human rights and environmental mining and advocacy non-governmental organisation (NGO), Kwaku Afari, said a paralegal is one who is equipped with basic knowledge and skills in law to provide legal and other assistance to communities. He continued that such...

 A new study of mining induced impact on education in Newmont’s ‘fenceline communities’ in the Asutifi North District Assembly (ANDA) has revealed that the education of children in such areas is seriously under threat. These fenceline communities also known as ‘left-behind communities’ are Tutuka, Damso, Yarogruma, Yawusukrom, Manu Shed, Annanekrom among others. The study entitled - ‘Mining-Induced Displacement’s Impact On Children’s Education: Children Of School-Going Age In Newmont’s ‘Fenceline’ Communities’ in the Asutifi North District Assembly (ANDA)’ - was carried out by a researcher, who is also a Lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Dr. Yaw Asamoah, with support from Wacam and its partners—DKA Austria and Oxfam Ghana. It found that many of the school children in these communities miss early morning lessons because they trek long distances to their relocated schools due to the operations of Newmont. The report also identified high school dropouts, low enro...

  The Concerned Farmers Association of Ahafo North has condemned threats by the Coalition of Ahafo North Youth together with some chiefs, assembly members in the Tano North Municipality, Ahafo Region against Wacam, and its lawyers, Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL). We wish to condemn the threats issued by the Coalition of Ahafo North Youth against Wacam in the Press Conference of 5th February, 2023, at Afirisipakrom as unlawful and a violation of our right to seek legal support from organisations such as Wacam and their lawyers, the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL) because Wacam has been operating as a lawful NGO in Ghana which has been using legal and rights-based methods to undertake mining advocacy to protect the environment and the rights of poor people living in mining communities for over two decades,” the Concerned Farmers Association of Ahafo North wrote in a statement signed by their members and issued on Friday, February 10, 2023. The farmers said it was sad f...

  Wacam, a community based human rights and environmental mining advocacy non-governmental organisation (NGO), has stated that it has never shied away from supporting farmers in mining communities in the Tano North Municipality of the Ahafo Region and others, from defending their rights and properties. The Associate Executive Director of Wacam, Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, who made the statement, was reacting to a news item by Accra-based Peace FM on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, which pointed the finger of blame on the organisation. The said news item said some chiefs in the operational areas of Newmont Ahafo Mine (including communities such as Yamfo, Afrisipa, Susanaso, Techire and Adrobaa) led by the chief of Yamfo, visited the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Hon Mireku Duker, and blamed Wacam for helping farmers in these areas to protect their properties from the mining company. The Peace FM story continued that the chiefs chided Wacam for assisting the vulnerable far...

  ...Call on government to enforce its directives The earth plays multiple roles in human lives, including being a source of livelihood, protecting biodiversity and providing clean air for all. The Earth plays hosts to forests which cover 31% of total land area of the earth while at the same time supporting 80% of terrestrial biodiversity. Many of the world’s most threatened and endangered animals live within these forests, or underneath the earth crust making them crucial to sustaining ecosystems. Forests serve as home to more than 300 million people worldwide and other animal species. The earth provides many important natural resources such as timber, fuel, rubber, paper, medicinal plants and minerals. Forests also help to sustain the quality and availability of freshwater supplies. More than three quarters of the worlds’ accessible freshwater comes from forest catchments. Water quality declines with decreases in forest condition and cover, and increases the natural hazards such ...

 The participation of mining communities and the public in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA process), especially before any mining operation takes place, was very crucial, the Associate Executive Director of Wacam, Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, has underscored. She said such a move enables stakeholders, particularly mining communities, to know the intended project and its effects on them, allow for obtaining local and traditional knowledge for decision-making, and more importantly, facilitate alternatives to mitigate the impacts of the project. Owusu-Koranteng was speaking at the opening of a two-day training on human rights for communities affected by mining in the Central Region organised by Wacam in Bogoso of the Western Region on Thursday, April 21, 2022. The workshop brought together about thirty-five (35) people from various communities affected by the operations of Perseus Mining Ghana Limited (PMGL) in the Upper Denkyira West of the Central Region. The communities were Br...

  The Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis (CEIA) has cautioned residents in mining communities to carefully think about the health consequences of mining before giving their consent to any mining project. This, the non-governmental organisation said, would help put in place measures to protect the health of community members against the health hazards of mining. The Executive Director for CEIA, Dr. Samuel Obiri, gave the advice in a presentation dubbed: ‘Making Human Health and Environmental Issues Associated With Mining an Important Consideration to Decide Whether to Accept Mining’ during a two-day training on human rights for communities affected by mining. The workshop, which was organised by Wacam in Bogoso in the Western Region, on Thursday, April 21, 2022, for communities affected by operations of Perseus Mining Ghana Limited (PMGL), brought together 35 community members. The affected communities were Ayanfuri, Breman and Akrofuom—all in the Upper Denkyira West District ...

Some civil society organizations in the mining and environment sector, Wacam and the Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis (CEIA), have added their voices to the explosion disaster that hit Apiatse in Bogoso in the Western region last week. According to Wacam and CEIA, the mining sector regulatory agencies should effectively regulate the mining companies to avoid Regulatory Capture and Agency problems to ensure strict adherence to all regulations governing safe and responsible mining practices. This was contained in a press release issued and signed by Dr. Samuel Obiri of the Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis and Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, the Associate Executive Director of Wacam respectively. They also call on mining companies to adhere to responsible mining regulations in the country. We want to use this medium to reiterate our call for all mining companies to adhere to responsible mining regulations. In furtherance to this, we call on mining sector regulatory agencies to eff...