Obuasi Mines Reopening: Wontumi's aide lashes former NDC appointees for absenting themselves

Special Aide to the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Andy Owusu has fired a shot at former Ashanti Regional Minister, Alexander John Ackon and other appointees in the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

According to Andy Owusu, the excuse given by members of the opposition NDC in the region and former appointees for not showing up at the recent reopening of the Obuasi Mine is flimsy and unturnable.

Speaking to journalists in Kumasi, the spokesperson for Mr. Bernard Antwi Bosiako, therefore, accused the former Regional Minister also former Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Obuasi at the expense of the people in Obuasi and the entire region.

"Hon. Alexander John Ackon was MCE for Obuasi and later became a minister. What prevented him and his party from gracing the occasion granted organizers do not invite them", Andy Owusu,l quizzed.

"That is bad on his part and NDC party in general", the spokesperson for the NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman fumed.

President Nana Akufo-Addo, joined by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, cut the tape to reopen the mine on Tuesday, January 22,2019.

“In order to help AngloGold Ashanti secure the needed investment for this project, the government had to provide a number of fiscal incentives and guarantee the stability of the project against changes in the legal environment, especially in the early years of the mine’s operations,” Mr Akufo-Addo said.

The initial investment in the redevelopment project, the president announced, is $881 million, with a total investment of $1.6 billion projected for the entire 22-year life of the mine, and added that “the whole investment package has been approved by Parliament,” he explained.”

The government is expected to rake in about US$2.16 billion in revenue over the next 22 years, in royalties and corporate and withholding taxes.

The Obuasi mine is expected to create 2,500 jobs.