Golden Star Wassa Limited, a subsidiary of Chifeng Gold Group (CGG), a gold mining company in the Wassa East District of the Western Region claims it is the highest employer in the district.
According to the company the initiative is a show of proof of its commitment to maintain a good working relationship with its host communities.
It said since the commencement of its operations, the gold-mining company has been engaging community leaders and members on employment and development programmes.
Health, Safety, Environment and Community Manager James German, disclosed this in an interview with DAILY GUIDE after officials of the company interacted with some selected journalists in the Western Region.
He noted that the company has a lot of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes to support its host communities among them is the Golden Star Oil Palm Plantation (GSOPP) which employs thousands of people in the company’s catchment areas.
He revealed that the company has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the communities which entreats the company to give some available jobs, both skilled and unskilled to the community members adding “So far, this has worked well”.
Mr. German explained that there is an Employment Committee in place and that, as and when the jobs are available, the committee would be informed and the vacancies advertised on the communities’ notice boards.
“The committee will then received applications from the job seekers and submit them to the company which will conduct the interviews and select qualified community members”, he added.
He revealed that 70 per cent of all semi-skilled and unskilled labour is allocated to the communities while 20 and 10 per cent of them are allocated to the company and two Divisional areas in the district respectively.
On Social support, Mr. German mentioned that the company has constructed lots of school blocks and assisted final year Junior High School (JHS) students with requisite tools for their Basic Education Certificate Examination.
“We have also built a clinic at Akyempem in the district and upgraded some roads in the area”, he pointed out.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi