News

LEG trains volunteers on environmental laws

Participants

Aware of the need to promote environmental justice and community rights in mining communities in the country, the Livelihood and Environment Ghana (LEG) has organised a two-day training programme for its Voluntary Community Facilitators (VCFs).

The VCFs, who were selected from the major mining-affected communities in the country (seven mining regions), were taken through ethical reporting and Ghana’s minerals and mining laws to enable them to be abreast of issues on community rights, including the right to safe and clean water, sanitation, compensation, and resettlement issues, as well as afforestation and restoration projects, which are core focus areas of LEG.

The VCFs would serve as intermediaries between their communities and the LEG to ensure an environment free from all forms of pollution to enhance sustainable development, community livelihoods, transparent mineral governance, and environmental sustainability.

The training, which was organised by LEG in collaboration with the Third World Network Africa (TWN-Africa), was sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Power of Voices Project (PVP) and Fair4ALL Programme.

The Executive Director (ED) of LEG, Mr. Richard Adjei-Poku, pointed out in a presentation that “our main goal is to promote environmental sustainability, community rights, sustainable livelihoods, and mineral governance.”

He noted that the NGO had trained many people in the mining communities in Ghana on transparency and accountability to enable them to hold their leaders and the companies operating in their respective communities accountable and responsible.

Mr. Adjei-Poku told the participants to take the training seriously to be in a better position to gather accurate information on issues pertaining to environmental threats and human rights violations in the mining communities.

Mr. Kingsley E. Hope, Chairperson of the Ghana Journalists Association in the Ashanti Region also explained the importance of ethical reporting to the participants, saying it was a process of transparency.

“Fundamental to proper, professional, and ethical conduct is the intent to be honest, accurate, and complete when providing required information,” he said.

Some of the participants said the training had given them more insights into how to gather and disseminate accurate information on mining laws.

LEG, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) was established in 2004 in Ahafo Kenyasi Number 2 to respond to the growing social, environmental, and human rights threats from the Newmont Ahafo Mine, which now operates in seven regions, namely, the Bono, Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Western, Ashanti, and Western North regions.

It promotes environmental justice, community rights, sustainable livelihoods, and mineral governance, particularly in the extractive and forest sectors

From Kingsley E. Hope, Kumasi

News

EC’s disqualification of Joana Cudjoe mischievous and disingenuous – NDC

The Head of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Edudzie Tamekloe, has described the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to disqualify the party’s parliamentary candidate for the Amenfi Central as mischievous and disingenuous.

Edudzie Tamekloe told Citi Breakfast Show host, Bernard Avle that the EC’s basis for the “disqualification is mind-boggling” because it was a party to an interlocutory injunction against the candidate, Joana Gyan Cudjoe’s election in the May 12 primary.

“The basis of the disqualification is the purported interlocutory injunction from the High Court in Sekondi which is extremely mischievous because clearly, the EC at all material times, was a party to the suit in the Sekondi Court,” he said.

According to him,“Each time we appeared before the judge in Sekondi, there was a representative for the EC and so the proceedings were known to the EC. When we annulled that election and decided to rerun it, they came to supervise the election and so for Samuel Tettey to refer to the injunction [in the disqualification] is completely disingenuous.”

An October 10 letter signed by the Deputy Chairman of the EC in charge of Operations, Samuel Tettey, informed Gyan Cudjoe of her disqualification, stating that the Commission is bound by the court order, which has neither been stayed nor vacated.

The NDC’s legal head also accused the EC of taking sides in the matter and disqualifying Joana from its volution:.

“When the EC opened filing, the party presented Joana as its nominee and thereafter, there was an indication that there was going to be the printing of the notice of poll, which was delayed and so we made enquiries and wrote a letter to the plaintiff and we thought this matter had ended, but on October 10, Samuel Tettey wrote a letter disqualifying Joana,” he added.

He concluded, “The EC cannot act like an octopus and move everywhere looking to disqualify a candidate whose election it supervised.”

source: Citinewsroom.com