The people of Funsi and surrounding communities in the Upper West Region have welcomed the Ghana Gold Board Mining Support Programme, expressing optimism that the initiative will bring jobs, responsible mining and economic transformation to the area.
The endorsement came during a stakeholder engagement held at Duu in the Wa East District, where officials of the GoldBod and the Ghana Geological Survey Authority met traditional authorities, assembly members and residents within the mineralised zone to discuss the proposed programme and ongoing geological survey activities.
The GoldBod delegation earlier paid a courtesy call on the Wa East District Chief Executive, Shaibu Adamu, who facilitated engagements with assembly members from Funsi North, Funsi South and Buffiama.
The team also met the Member of Parliament for Wa East, Hon. Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw, ahead of the community engagement.
The stakeholder meeting brought together the Chief of Duu, Naa Justin Bayong Hogi, the Chief of Janfian, Naa Nwiituo Bakuli, the MP, the DCE and elders from surrounding communities, as well as local government representatives.
After extensive discussions on the objectives of the support programme, the communities unanimously agreed to participate and pledged their collaboration for the initiative.
Residents noted that although several mining companies had previously engaged communities in the area with promises of development and support, many of those commitments were never fulfilled.
However, they expressed confidence that the involvement of the GoldBod as a state institution provided greater assurance of accountability, transparency and long-term commitment.
Speaking on behalf of the chiefs and people, the Assembly Member for Duu described the engagement as historic and timely, saying the communities had long anticipated an intervention of that nature.
“On behalf of the two Chiefs and elders of Duu community and all surrounding areas, we are very grateful and happy to hear about GoldBod’s Mining Support Programme. The people have been yearning to see something of this sort for many years,” he said.
He further assured the GoldBod team of the communities’ full cooperation and readiness to support the exercise to ensure its success.
The Mining Support Programme forms part of the GoldBod’s broader strategy to support responsible and community-based mining through geological surveys, technical assistance, equipment support and structured market access.
Source:www.kumasimail.com
