Western Region Of Ghana, One Of The Richest Places On Earth – Dr. Nii Amu Darko Writes

Around 6.30am last Wednesday 22/03/2023, I had a trauma call. I went to see this patient, a superintendent at Rio Tinto with a large leg laceration from boat injury. This patient is an indigenous guy. He was there with the wife who’s also a superintendent at Rio. Then there was this white guy who I got to know shortly after to be a senior executive of Rio.

After I examined this patient, the white guy came to me and asked, are you going to fly him out to a plastic surgeon? I said No. I’ll fix it here. Ooh good, that’s why I’m here; to authorize a flight for him if necessary. But this isn’t workplace injury? I quipped. Yes I know, but he needs to be treated well and come back to work ASAP, he retorted.

There was no bony or tendon injury. I repaired the deep laceration. It was then around 7.30am, so I decided to stay in the hospital to continue with my day’s work. The morning nurses had just started. I asked for a cup of tea before I start my rounds at 8am. This was when things became funny.

The white Rio executive approached me. He asked, are you a Ghanaian? I replied yes. Your accent is so Ghanaian. I was in your country in 2008 for few months. I asked, doing what? Rio had a mining project in the western region. Really, I didn’t know that. Rio had been in Ghana from 1974 mining bauxite in the west. We had a partnership with the government of Ghana. We sold our 80% shares in 2010 to a Chinese company. Really? Why didn’t you sell the 80% to the our government? He said, it was a business decision. I asked, a business or a political decision? He repeated – a business decision. How much did you sell it for? Doc, I won’t be able to tell you. We never disclosed the amount involved.

I love your country especially the western region. As a life time Rio engineer I have to. We love metals and minerals, and the western region is one of the richest places with metals and minerals in the world. You have lots of manganese there, one of the top deposits in the world. You have lots of iron ore there, and of course, massive bauxite too. In fact, you have some gold there.Then oil off the coast I don’t think there are many places in the world with this combination of resources.

I knew about manganese but not iron ore. I added. Doc, the infrastructure in western region is terrible. I just can’t work out why the most important region is the most neglected in your country. We know you’ve found more iron ore in the Oti region. I asked him, how did you know? He smiled and said, “Doc, we’re by far the largest iron ore, bauxite and copper mining company in the whole world. We know where everything is. I think we’ll come back to Ghana. Doc, you’re not a businessman but a doctor, so these things may not interest you. Your country is very rich.” I almost told him that, the next time they want to come to Ghana, I will be the President. Lol. I suppressed the temptation to talk about myself.

Soon, it was 8am so I had to tell him the nurses were waiting for me to do my rounds. Doc, can we make sometime for fishing on Saturday? he invited me. As a standard rule, I politely declined the offer with an excuse.

I had only 6 patients so my rounds was quick. My heart was pounding the whole time. What a stupid state and moronic governments have we had and still do, to have our youth migrate from the wealth in the west to nothingness in Accra? Last year, Australia made A$133b from iron ore, Ghana’s budget for this year is A$23b (including all the deficits), so Australia’s iron ore could finance our budget 6x. What does our iron ore do for us?

Then my mind went to Gordon Guggisberg. Why did he build the 1st deep water harbour in colonial Africa at Takoradi? This man Guggi was colonial government’s surveyor from 1902 to 1908. He’s reputed to have surveyed the whole colony and Asante. Did he know all this wealth in the western region? I’ve read and written a fair bit about Guggi. Everything he did had an economic outlook. I believe constructing the harbour at Takoradi was directly linked to the wealth he believed was beneath the soil of the west.

This is the thing. Leadership is everything. Guggi showed it. Amokye/Tutu proved it. Asante, a vassal of Denkyira became an empire within a generation. Lee Kuan Yew wasn’t the 1st. We’ve done it here before, and we’ll do it again.

God has already blessed our homeland Sikaman with amazing wealth in the west. We can’t ask for what we already have. Pray for what we don’t have: true leadership.

Amabuye Sikaman. Come back Sikaman.

Tswa omanye aba.

 

 Dr. Nii Amu Darko

President for African Reform Movement (ARM)

30th March 2023

 

 

THANK YOU for constantly reading stories on MyGhanaMedia.com,  news publishing website from Ghana. Kindly like, follow, comment and SHARE stories on all social media platforms for more entertaining updates!