Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GFGF) at the weekend commissioned four monumental projects for the benefits of its host communities.
The projects are; Nurses and Doctors Quarters, a 1.7kilometer tarred asphalt roads for the Damang community, a beautiful 250 seater community center for Bompieso community and a refurbished Maternity block and other facilities at the Aboso Health Center.
The cost of the four projects commissioned is estimated at $1.53 million.
The development comes at a time the Foundation had invested a whopping $100m in host communities.
Present at the function were Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, Western Regional Minister; Joshua Mototi, Executive Vice President (EVP) of Gold Fields West Africa; Dr. Celestina Allotey, Vice president Sustainability, Gold Fields West Africa and Mawuli Ababio, Trustee of GFGF.
The rest are Anthony Ofosu Adofo, Deputy Director General of Ghana Health Service (GHS); Barbara Oteng Gyasi, Board Chairman of Minerals Commission (MC); Dr. Yaw Ofori, Regional Director of GHS; Dr. Tony Aubeng, a citizen of the area and a retinue of traditional leaders, led by Nana Kwabena Amponsah, Divisonal Chief of Bosumtwi.
Speaking at the official commissioning ceremony, the Executive Vice President of Gold Fields West Africa, Joshua Mototi, expressed his delight over the handing over of the project to the communities.
In line with our objective of supporting local content and boosting economic activities in our operational areas, the projects, according to Mr Mototi, were all executed by local contractors.
But whilst commending the local contractors drawn from the host communities for a good job done and Mr Mototi also called for proper maintenance of the projects.
His reason is that maintenance of infrastructural projects, which had been handed over to the communities has been a major challenge for the Foundation.
For instance, he mentioned how a library funded by the Foundation and presented to the Abosso community about three years ago had been abandoned without proper maintenance.
“I am told that funerals are organised right outside the library grounds and the library’s washrooms and other facilities are constantly used. Besides this, the area provided for reading in the library is used to host people attending funerals,” he noted.
“We are concerned because the facility needs to be used appropriately and maintained properly for sustainable impact. This is just one example of many,” he added.
Mr Joshua Mototi pointed out that a breakdown of the Foundation’s expenditure so far showed that US$68.8milion has gone into infrastructure. This is about 69% of the total spend.
Going forward, and to help address this issue of poor maintenance of facilities, the Foundation, he mentioned, had taken a bold step to set up project operations and management teams to
operate and manage all projects it has invested in.
These teams will be responsible for the management and maintenance of all facilities within their purview. “We believe this would go a long way to keep the facilities in top shape”.
Joshua Mototi also told the gathering that as Gold Fields Ghana Foundation marks its 20 years anniversary, “we are pleased to note that in January, this year, the Foundation’s investment in Ghana crossed the US$100million mark”.
This, he pointed out, was a testimony to our commitment to the socio-economic development of communities within the operational areas of our Tarkwa and Damang mines and by extension, the country.
The Foundation’s investment, he further explained, covered several areas under education, water and sanitation, health, agriculture and infrastructure; including training, scholarships and enterprise developments.
Additionally, to give further impetus to our commitment to sustainable development, Joshua Mototi disclosed the Foundation would soon launch its five-year strategic development plan.
Mototi also informed the gathering that in 2023, Gold Fields commissioned a baseline needs assessment of the Tarkwa, Nsuaem and Prestea Huni Valley Municipalities.
The objective of the study, according to him, was to identify a legacy project that would tie into the company’s purpose of creating enduring value beyond mining.
“We call this our Legacy Programme. I believe that many of the stakeholders here today may have already made input into this programme. Further engagement around our Legacy Programme will be done throughout 2024.”
GFGF EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
First Executive Secretary of Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GFGF), Abdel Razak Yakubu expressed delight over the outdooring of what he described as socio-economic interventions projects for the benefits of host communities.
“Today, we have gathered here to outdoor more of our investment in the communities. It is our hope that, from these investments, human centered success stories will emerge”.
Giving background information about the Foundation, Executive Secretary Abdel Razak Yakubu explained that the Foundation provided a means for the company to support the government development agenda in host communities of the mines. He further explained that in 2023, the Foundation was decoupled from the community relations function of the company.
The new Foundation structure, the first Executive Secretary of the Foundation indicated, pulled together young talents from Graduate Training programme from host communities and that the team had shown that everything was possible.
He said: “From Damang to Amoanda, from Aboso to Brahabobom, these smart working young men and ladies have continued to exhibit professionalism and the results are evident for all to see”.
Report from the Secretariat
A Secretariat was set up to manage the affairs of the Foundation. For the first time in a long while, the Foundation completed 88% of projects approved by its trustees as against 56% in previous years.
- In addition to the projects being handed over, Gold Fields through its Foundation is still implementing projects and programmes in health, education, training, water and sanitation, agriculture and infrastructure.
- A few years ago, we partnered the Huni Valley Senior High School to train 10 of the students for the National Science and Maths Quiz. The target was to reach at least, the quarter final stage of the competition. Unfortunately, this target was missed. Interestingly however, 7 students out of this group of 10 graduated recently and produced the best WASSCE results in the history of the school.
We would like to use this event to congratulate these students for this great achievement;
- Helen Daniels – A1 in all 8 subjects
- Daniel Pascal – A1 in all 8 subjects
- Abubakari Idrissu Napari – A1 in 7 subjects and B2 in 1 subject
- Peter Nelson – A1 in 7 subjects and B2 in 1 subject
- Henry Arkoh – A1 in 6 subjects and B2 in 2 subjects
- Gabriel Mensah – A1 in 6 subjects, B2 in 1 subject and B3 in another
- Benjamin Eshun – A1 in 5 subjects, B2 in 2 subjects and B3 in one subject.
To the headmaster and teachers who dedicated their time to training these students, we are eternally grateful.
Human centered success stories such are these continue to motivate Gold Fields and its Foundation to do more for its host communities.
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