The former Member of Parliament (MP) for the Akwatia constituency in the Eastern region, Baba Jamal has stated the Akufo-Addo led administration should not be praised for the revival of the AngloGold Ashanti mining company because the company never collapsed.
AngloGold Ashanti suspended operations at the Obuasi underground mine in 2014, due to a significant fall in gold prices and a prolonged period of losses but President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo re-opened the Obuasi mine during a colourful ceremony, in fulfillment of a campaign pledge and promised to stop encroachment by illegal miners on the concession.
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Speaking on Adom TV’s Badwam Show on Thursday, Baba Jamal said it was the company’s own decision to shut down because it was not making profits and so the then NDC government should not be blamed for the collapse as been done by the NPP communicators.
“It is a good thing the company is back in President Akufo-Addo’s time but AngloGold as a private company decided to go on care and technical maintenance for 24 months. They decided to look for funds to fix the company. So it was more of a hibernation period. They were not forced to shut down and that was why the Mahama Government did not provide those funds.”
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This to Baba Jamal emphasizes what the Managing Director of the company Eric Asubonteng stated on current affairs programme PM Express on MultiTV.
Mr Asubonteng explained the four-year shut was important to give AngloGold Ashanti a clear view of how to fix the then-troubled mine.
“We had gotten to the point where we couldn’t fix the mine on the run and the example I always use is trying to fix the wheel of a vehicle while it is in motion.”
