Mr. Richard Ellimah, Executive Director for Center for Social Impact Studies (CeSIS), who’s also a member of the committee set up by the Minerals Commission to help allocate AGA’s ceded concession to small scale miners has thrown a word of caution to people who are bent on undermining the work of the committee even before the committee starts work officially.

The Civil Society luminary made these comments in a Facebook post that gingered some residents in and outside Obuasi to rally behind the committee which is well represented to see to it that Obuasi gets economically revived once again.
“But even before the well represented committee gets to work, people who have made a profitable career out of perennial pessimism are at it again: this won't work! This committee that comprises all the key stakeholders in the conflict (illegal miners, Chamber of Mines, Adansi Traditional Council, Obuasi Municipal Assembly, Minerals Commission) is a last attempt at fixing the problem of illegal mining in Obuasi once and for all. I have stated publicly that if this Committee fails, Obuasi will eventually collapse”, he explained.
The composition of the committee is made up of 3 Minerals Commission Reps, 3 AngloGold Ashanti Reps and a member from Chamber of Mines.

Other members of the committee are; a rep from the Adansi Traditional Council, 2 reps from the Obuasi Municipal Assembly, 3 reps from the Artisans Small Scale Miners and a senior Police Officer representing the Security.

The core duty of the committee is to support the Artisans Small Scale Miners (ASM) to form a cooperative in order to regularize their operations and Make proposals to the Minerals Commission on how to move the ASM to their new site

Mr. Richard Ellimah added that, all hands should be on deck to support the committee achieve it’s mandate within the 1 month period given them which will go a long way to help the Municipality.
“Instead of giving me a thousand and one reasons why this intervention won't work, you will be more useful to your country by supporting the process to work so that Obuasi can rise again!”, he stressed.