The District Chief Executive (DCE) of Talensi, Thomas Pearson Wuni Duanab, has indicated that the 14,000 exercise books donated by Cardinal Namdini Mining Limited as part of its cooperate social responsibility was laudable and timely.
But the DCE also told the public on Word FM’s Word Community Watch Show that the Talensi District Assembly could not have afforded the books on its own.
“I was very happy to be part of the donation carried out by Cardinal Namdini. The Talensi District Assembly could not afford such money to buy 14,000 exercise books for six mining communities. Look, some people may ask why you are interviewing me on this donations but to me I valued the donation of the mining company. What you need to know is that Cardinal Namdini has not started full-scale mining in the district,” the DCE said.
The 14,000 exercise books donation by the mining has come under strong criticism on social media with prominent people like the former Upper East Regional Minister, Tangoba Abayage, saying on her Facebook timeline that such a donation should not have found its way into the news.
“There are some things that must not find their ways into the news and this is one of them. A whole company exploiting huge gold deposits for export? And they brought both traditional and administrative leadership to a function to donate just about 14,000 exercise books: total cost of which may not even be up to 50k cedis? And they called the press to cover? I feel embarrassed. I’m being very diplomatic with my choice of words here,” she reacted.
Speaking on residents’ concerns about drinking water in the mining communities, the DCE told Word News there were enough boreholes in those communities and the only community that was challenged with potable water in the district was Pwalugu.
Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the Talensi Mining Community Communities Initiative (TAMCI), Gilbert Lamdoliba, who also spoke on the same programme, indicated some mining communities did not have access to drinking water. He said people in Gbaani Gaariboug, a community in the district, for example had been drinking from an old well dug around 1992.
He added that most of the schools in the area lacked furniture and pupils usually sat or lay on the bare floor to learn. He said some communities were still not connected to the national grid and cited poor road network as a major challenged in the district.
Lamdoliba also spoke about how TAMCI had come up with an agreement document for communities regarding the corporate social responsibilities of all the mining companies in the district but some forces were encouraging the mining firms not to do what was expected of them.
The DCE is reported to have asked for the agreement document with an assurance that he would do the negotiation on behalf of the communities but TAMCI disagreed.
Source:mywordfmonline.com/Gaspard Ayuureneeya