The Paramount Chief of Talensi, Tongraan Kugbilsong Nanlebegtang, was a strong critic of a Chinese company called Shaanxi Mining (Ghana) Limited.
The Asian company, now called Earl International Group (Ghana) Gold Limited, operates in Talensi, a district in Ghana’s Upper East Region.
The Tongraan was against the presence and operations of the Chinese in the district based on his own reasons in this video.
As shown in the video:
Wearing a checkered hat and a white smock, his voice reflects anger and concern as he addresses a crowd of licensed, local small-scale miners as the Member of Parliament for Talensi (now former) at a mining site in the district. He tells them the presence and operations of the Chinese company in the area seek to kick the indigenous miners out of their businesses.
Today, he is the Paramount Chief of the area and he has switched his support in favour of the Chinese and the Chinese company, backing their interest (as revealed in the video) in occupying and controlling the concessions originally owned by the locals.
The Chinese company has taken over a gold-bearing landmass 16.02km² in size. That land size equals thousands of standard football fields combined.
As can be heard in the video, he is proposing that the local miners give up their concessions to the foreign company for shares. Some of the small-scale miners, as you are probably aware, have since taken legal action against the company and some other parties.
This video evidence shows how he was a blunt critic of the Chinese and the Chinese company, and how he is now their dedicated advocate.
And as can be found in several online media reports, a lot of Ghanaians have lost their lives and some have suffered permanent disabilities in Talensi (without compensation to this day) through the activities of the Chinese company.
This piece, titled BROKEN TRUST, highlights two inconsistent statements boldly and publicly made on one matter by a politician who turned into a paramount chief.
