On mining, irregulated business and human rights...

The BBC's File on Four programme investigated (download)the activities Ashanti Goldfields Company owned by the part UK company Anglo Gold. It has a substantial Social Responsibility programme most of which appears to be aimed at building capacity and skills in the industry in South Africa where its corporate headquarters are.

Anglo Gold came to the notice of the US based Human Rights watch in 2003, when it alleged (The Curse of Gold) the company had paid the Front National Integrationniste (FNI) in the Democratic Republic of Congo for access to mining in their area of influence. The company replied that it was unavoidable for any business working in the area not to come into contact with the militias.

In Ghana, only last week the company boasted of new jobs it would bring that country. But the File on Four programme unearthed a number of human rights and enviromental abuses: the leaking of cyanide into local rivers; and a cover up of the shooting of a Galamsey (illegal) miner called Awudu Mohammed who appears to have involved police and security guards in lying about it.

Particularly chilling is an interview with Y B Amponsah, AGC's human resources general manager, in which he appears to blatantly be selecting evidence, and then subtle changing his story. He finally chases the journalists out, when they continue to ask for the material he is trying to hide.

There is clearly Ministerial concern about the general effects of Galamsay mining on the environment. But as the programme points out the shift from deep mine to open cast mining in the last ten years is wrecking havoc on the traditional livelihoods of those in the communities affected.

And a government decision three years ago promises to further eat into Ghana's environmentally sensitive rain forest.