Ghana
Case Information
Kibi Goldfields in Saamang
Nwoase Community Residents vs. the Atekoanohene
Using skills and cohesion developed through the FCAP process for community-driven development, the Nwoase residents overcame division and intimidation to take their complaint to the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice. This is a ground-breaking complaint that could clarify the role of traditional authorities in respecting human rights in Ghana.
The Kpone Waste-Pickers and the World Bank
Two years ago, the Kpone Waste-Pickers’ Association was informed that the landfill would be shut down as part of a World Bank-supported sanitation project. Since then the waste-pickers have been trying to ensure that their rights and livelihoods will be protected as their source of earnings is decommissioned forever.
Updates
Saamang
In 2018, ACA worked with the Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis to help the communities conduct an independent environmental assessment of the mining operations. The results showed that air quality is problematic in Saamang and Juaso, likely as a result of the dust arising from mining roads and the mine site.
ACA is also working with the communities to document and collect evidence relating to the security force abuses that occurred in 2012 and 2013.
Nwoase
Over the next two years, Commission staff facilitated a series of meetings with the Atekoanohene in which he repeatedly promised to resettle the complainants and then reneged on his promises. However, at least in part because of the ongoing case, the plaintiffs were never expelled from most of the land in question. Finally, in March 2020, the community received the baffling information that their case had actually been closed by the Commission nearly two years earlier.
In May 2020, the Commission agreed to re-open the case and is currently investigating the facts.
Kpone
In June 2020, work abruptly commenced on the closure of the landfill. In response to urgent WIEGO inquries, the contractor (Zoomlion) informed the waste-pickers that the closure was being funded by the Government of Ghana and not the World Bank, and that no Environmental and Social Impact Assessment had been completed.
ACA analyzed the World Bank project documents and concluded that the World Banks Environmental and Social Framework should apply to the Kpone Landfill closure, despite renewed denials by the World Bank that they are involved in the project. ACA, WIEGO, and the Association are currently gathering information to inform a strategy that protects the right to livelihood of the displaced waste-pickers.