Rumor Mill of Wednesday, 4 August 2004

Source: misbahub@yahoo.com

Redundancy Galore at Obuasi Mine

The Obuasi mines of the Anglo Gold Ashanti in the Ashanti Region of Ghana has become a hot gone following the witch hunting of top offricials by the Chief Operating Officer (C.O.O), of the West Africa region of the group.

It can be said on authority following months of investigaions that high calibre professionals working at Obuasi are being shown the exit for reason(s) unknown to them.

Sources at Obuasi confirm that an engineer (name withheld) specialized in surface mining operations was posted by Mr. Oiredu to the deep mining sector where his knowledge of operations is limited.

In the event that the said engineer is unable to perform at his new position, he is shown the exit and this plan by the C.O.O believed to be delibrate, means that many professional with long years of service at the mines would be redundant if they are unable to perform at new roles assigned to them.

One other General Manager has also suffered persistant harassment under the new administration of Mr. Owiredu to the point that he has even considered leaving his post.

Whiles harassing and intimidating wokers he has haboured dislike for over a long time, Mr. Owiredu is also rewarding others who are said to be his close cronies.

What baffles many wokers is the fact that, people who are appointed to top positions by the C.O.O do not really merit their new appointment for the fact that they lack the educational qualificaion and experience to make them fit for their positions.It is becoming difficult for the workers to explain why their boss is maltreating them, but some think he is peeved at people who are said to have been generous to his ex-wife when he was engaged in a legal battle to divorce her.

Mr. Owiredu has successfully divorce his wife after an out of court settlement was reached. Many had hoped that he will let by-gones be by-gones and look ahead to the future now that he is married again, alas he has decided to witch hunt his surbordinate.

Workers at Obuasi and other mines in Ghana now recall with nolstagic feelings the memerable days of Dr. Sir Sam Jonah the former Chief Executive Officer of the Ashanti Gold Fields and now president of Anglo Gold Ashanti.

Junior workers at the mines have become disenchanted with the way the C.O.O. is running the company like a personal property and it has now become their daily prayer that Dr. Sir Jonah will intervene to ?tame? Mr. Owiredu.

Investigation has also revealed that the new wife of the C.O.O. now uses a cross country toyota land criuser for her private rounds although the vehicle is the property of the Anglo Gold Ashanti allocated to Mr. Owiredu for his work schedule.

It is not known why he decided to allow his spouse to use the vehicle of he Anglo Gold Ashanti at the expense of the company.