Hundreds of residents in Obuasi have staged a protest to pile pressure on the government to drive development to the area, located in the Ashanti Region.
The protestors, some of whom wore red and black attire wielded varying placards with inscriptions such as “Why is Obuasi poor?”, “Mr. President please save Obuasi. AGA is killing us”, “AGA is for Adansi not for any other”, “No small scale mining, no AGA” , ”AGA can’t do this in South Africa, Why Ghana ”, among others converged at Bossman, a popular area in the mining town to start the march on Friday.
Some of the demonstrators like 50-year-old Margaret Asante say the mining town is lagging behind in terms of development.
“So I blame these politicians for this mess”, Margaret said amid tears. “We produce gold and other farm produce but it appears we feel forgotten”.
“We don’t understand why a town, endowed with so many natural resources, mining town as such, continues to crawl on its belly. Where are we heading towards,” another resident who will not give his name also complained.
The protest was led by the Economic Fighters League (EFL), which is part of the FixTheCountry Movement, a group which has started a campaign to get the country fixed.
Its convener Ernesto Yeboah, in an interview with Accra-based Citi Fm said “Our own GSS has said about 9 million Ghanaians are unable to feed with just GHS 5.00 a day. There is so much hardship in the system.”
“But for us gathered here, we are presenting a question to the government, and we demand answers. Why is Obuasi poor? Considering the resources, it is blessed with. Why are the people living in abject poverty?”
SOURCE: DAILY MAIL GH
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