Journalist Petitioned Chief Imam over Killing at AngloGold Ashanti mine in 2025
PETITION TO THE NATIONAL CHIEF IMAM OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA, HIS EMINENCE SHEIKH UTHMAN NUHU SHARIBUTU
Subject: A Daughter of Obuasi Cries Out – Nine Lives Lost, Many Promises Broken, and a Community Still Waiting for You
To His Eminence Sheikh Uthman Nuhu Shaributu,
National Chief Imam of the Republic of Ghana
Accra.
Your Eminence,
I write to you not with anger, but with the heavy heart of a daughter who loves her land and fears for its soul. My name is Rahinah Bintu Saana, a broadcast journalist and a citizen of Obuasi East.
A year ago, our beloved Obuasi bled.
On the night of Saturday, January 18, 2025, nine young men—breadwinners, fathers, sons, brothers—ventured to an abandoned section of the AngloGold Ashanti mine. They carried no weapons. They posed no threat. They went, as one widow later testified, “because there was no work and he never came back.”
Without warning, military personnel guarding the concession opened fire. The Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners (GNASSM) confirmed that nine unarmed civilians were killed and fourteen others severely injured. The military offered a different account—claiming a firefight with armed miners—but the Association condemned the act as “a gross violation of human rights” and a breach of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.
Whatever the narrative, Your Eminence, the truth remains: Nine Ghanaian sons did not return home. And nine families were shattered forever.
The President’s Response – A Statement, Not a Visit
In the days following the tragedy, President John Dramani Mahama issued a statement expressing profound regret and ordering an immediate investigation. He promised the nation and the grieving families that justice would be served.
Twelve months later, Your Eminence, no official cause of the shooting has been established. No perpetrator has been held accountable. The families are still waiting. The wounds remain unhealed.
Where the Chief Imam Came – And Where He Left
Your Eminence, in the chaotic days after the shooting, when grief threatened to boil over into violence, the youth and miners of Obuasi looked up to you. And you came.
You visited the bereaved families. You consoled the weeping widows. You promised to speak to AngloGold Ashanti and resolve the matter peacefully. The Artisanal Small-Scale Miners Association of Obuasi has publicly confirmed that you pledged to engage AGA on their behalf.
AGA, in turn, promised to allocate a mining concession to the small-scale miners—a promise that, according to the Association’s Secretary Eugene Annan, has not been fulfilled. “AGA promised to give a concession to a small‑scale miners association to work, but up to now, we have not heard anything from them,” he told the press in November 2025.
Your Eminence, I ask with all due respect: What happened to that promise?
The miners are still idle. The youth are still unemployed. The widows are still hungry. And the same frustrations that sent those nine young men into the concession that fateful night still fester in the hearts of our young people today.
Broadcast Journalist
The Cry of a Widow – The Cry of a Generation
During the one‑year anniversary of the shooting, I visited the affected families and donated food items—bags of rice and essential supplies worth thousands of cedis. But as the Assembly Member for Samsonkrom rightly declared: “This is private support to ease pain, but it does not take the place of justice. The families deserve more than words.”
One widow, who asked not to be named, told me through tears: “My husband went because there was no work. He never came back. Now I am alone with the children. We were promised justice, but nothing has come.”
Your Eminence, that is not just a widow’s cry. That is the cry of Obuasi. That is the cry of every young person who sees no future, no job, no hope. And that is the cry that you once came to answer—but have since left unanswered.
What We Humbly Ask of You
Your Eminence, you are not the government. You are not AngloGold Ashanti. But you are the National Chief Imam—the spiritual father of millions of Ghanaians, including the Muslims of Obuasi. Your words carry weight. Your silence is felt.
I respectfully petition you to:
1. Fulfill Your Promise – Return to Obuasi. Meet the families you consoled. Speak to AngloGold Ashanti again—this time, publicly and urgently. If a promise was made, let it be kept.
2. Speak Truth to Power – Use your revered office to call on the government to complete the investigation and deliver the justice promised. A year of waiting is a year too long.
3. Address the Root Cause – Unemployment – The youth of Obuasi are not criminals; they are desperate. The lack of jobs pushes them into illegal mining. The lack of legal mining sites pushes them onto dangerous concessions. A nation that kills its desperate youth has failed them twice—first by neglect, then by bullet.
4. Restore Hope – Many in Obuasi have given up. They believe their leaders have abandoned them. They believe their spiritual father has forgotten them. Prove them wrong, Your Eminence. Let your actions match your words.
A Final Plea from a Daughter of Obuasi
Your Eminence, our great‑grandparents toiled with their blood to build this nation and its mines. The sweat of our ancestors watered the ground of Obuasi. Is this their reward? That their descendants are shot down like animals and buried with no justice and no hope?
We did not ask for war. We asked for work.
We did not ask for violence. We asked for a future.
Your Eminence, Obuasi is still bleeding. Not with bullets now, but with the slow hemorrhage of abandoned promises and forgotten families.
Do not let our silence be mistaken for acceptance. Do not let your absence be mistaken for indifference.
Rise, Your Eminence. Return to Obuasi. Fulfill your word. And help us restore hope before another young man walks into the dark and never comes back.
May Allah guide your steps and soften your heart toward us.
Respectfully submitted,
Rahinah Bintu Saana
Broadcast Journalist | Citizen of Obuasi East
Founder, Hajia Bintu Humanitarian Initiative (HBH)
Tel: 0243378178 | Email: rahinahbintusaana83@gmail.com
Cc (in order):
1. The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources
2. The Ministry of the Interior
3. The Ministry of Defence
4. National Security
5. The Ghana Police Service
6. The Management of AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi mine,Ghana
7. The Ashanti Regional Minister
8. The Obuasi East Municipal Assembly
9. The Obuasi West Municipal Assembly
10. Obuasi East Imaams
11. Obuasi West Imaams
12. The Adansi Zongo Chiefs
13. The Adansi Traditional Council
14. The Artisanal Small‑Scale Miners Association, Obuasi
15. All media houses in the Republic of Ghana
Hashtags:
#JusticeForObuasi9
#ObuasiStillBleeding
#ChiefImamFulfillYourPromise
#SpeakTruthToPower
#JobsNotBullets
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END OF DOCUMENT.
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