From the first caller to the last, the message that came through Asempa FM’s microphones was the same: terminate Heath Goldfields’ lease, and bring in a company that can actually do the work.
Ex-mine workers spoke first, and their grievances were specific.
They recalled being promised, under a Memorandum of Understanding signed between Heath Goldfields and the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union on 22nd November 2024, that two months of outstanding salaries would be paid on or before 13th December 2024 — the day the leases were signed.
“The day came, and the day went,” one former employee said. “We did not see one cedi until between March and July of the next year.”Others described being among the more than 400 workers laid off since Heath Goldfields took over, with severance, SSNIT, and Tier 2 contributions still outstanding.
“They told the Minister they had 500 million dollars,” another worker said.
“If they had 500 million dollars, why couldn’t they pay one month’s salary on time?
The women of Bondaye spoke of the wider economic ripple.
With the mine effectively idle, market activity has collapsed.
“My customers were the miners,” said one trader. “When they have no money, I have no business. When I have no business, my children do not eat.”
Others raised safety concerns about blasting operations in the open pit, which they say take place too close to the township.Youth in the community framed the issue as a matter of generational fairness.
“This mine has produced more than nine million ounces of gold since 1912,” one young man said, citing figures that have circulated in recent commentary, including Bright Simons’ Scarab briefing paper.
“Where is our share? Why is it that every operator who comes here leaves us poorer?
Traditional voices — including some who joined the CACA delegation to Accra last month — used the platform to call for calm but firm pressure on the government.
They reminded listeners that the same alliance has petitioned not just the President but also the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, the Bureau of National Investigations, the Economic and Organized Crime Office, and the Minerals Commission, and that lawyer Martin Kpebu has publicly backed the call for an independent investigation.
The Ekosiisen hosts, true to the show’s style, pushed back on testimony they found unsupported and read out Heath Goldfield’s position that operations remain active under an approved Mine Development Plan. But the dominant tone of the morning belonged to Bondaye itself, and Bondaye was not in a mood for compromise.
“We are not asking for charity,” an elder said in closing.
“We are asking for our mine to be given to people who can run it, that is all.”
