My Entry Point:

I own approximately 2,000 acres across the Berekum District – land acquired over eight years of building relationships and legitimate agricultural operations. When Chinese mining operations first approached me about my properties, I had resources most local farmers didn’t: legal knowledge, documentation systems, international connections, and the financial ability to sustain a fight.

Years of Attempts:

They didn’t just ask once. For years, Chinese mining operators attempted to gain access to one of my properties. They came to King Owusu’s door asking permission. They approached my workers – Effah, Oppong, and others – asking to come on my land.

For years, the answer was no.

They got tired of asking.

The Breaking Point – 2023:

They trespassed on my property. Cut down trees. Started digging.

That was the line crossed. That was when we took them to court.

Taking Them to Court:

We didn’t just resist – we took several Chinese miners to court. We won. They were deported back to China.

It was possible to stop them through legal channels – if you had the resources and knowledge to navigate the system. Most farmers didn’t.

Understanding King Owusu’s Position:

King Owusu was young and relatively new to his position as traditional authority for the Berekum District. He was doing his best, but facing industrial-scale foreign mining operations wasn’t something he’d been prepared for. He probably didn’t know what to do or how to handle it initially.

But once I became involved and started voicing my opinions on the matters, things began to shift. Having someone with resources and international perspective standing with local farmers seemed to give him the courage to act more decisively.

King Owusu Takes Action:

After that 2023 trespassing incident and our court victory, King Owusu started creating formal laws and rules for his people in Berekum. The message was clear: don’t sell your land to the Chinese. Don’t lease to mining operations. If you do, you’ll end up in jail along with the Chinese operators.

This is traditional authority actually functioning – a leader living with his people, seeing the destruction firsthand, and taking direct action to protect his community when he finally had the support and evidence to do so.

Building AsaaseNnua:

With King Owusu now actively engaged, we built AsaaseNnua into a systematic land protection movement. Not just reactive resistance against Chinese mining operations, but proactive community organizing to help farmers who’d been exploited and prevent others from falling into the same trap.

We organized. We documented. We coordinated resistance. We used both legal channels (like the court victories) and traditional authority structures to fight back.

What Makes This Even Worse:

There are legitimate mining lands available for purchase in Ghana – land not being farmed, land where mining operations would be appropriate and legal. If Chinese operators wanted to extract minerals legally, those options existed.

But that would have required going through the proper system: purchasing the land, obtaining mining licenses from the government, meeting regulatory requirements, facing oversight. That’s expensive, time-consuming, and accountable.

Farmers were the easier path. Convince them to sign papers allowing mining – even though doing so without proper mining licenses was illegal. Less informed about what industrial mining actually meant. Less able to navigate legal systems. More vulnerable to incomplete information and promises of quick money. No government oversight to slow things down or enforce environmental protections.

The Chinese mining operations chose the exploitative route because it was easier than the legal one. They could bypass the entire regulatory system by targeting farmers directly. Regulatory systems that should have caught this illegal activity instead allowed it to continue until citizens organized to stop it.

King Owusu’s laws weren’t just protecting farmers from exploitation – they were filling a massive gap where official regulatory systems had completely failed to enforce existing law. The mining was already illegal without proper licenses. Officials just weren’t stopping it.

The Question Remains:

Where were the official regulatory systems while foreign mining operations were illegally destroying Ghanaian agricultural land when legitimate, legal mining options existed? These weren’t small operations hiding in remote areas. Heavy equipment moving through the district. Environmental destruction visible and obvious. Operations running without proper licenses in plain sight.

Yet enforcement only happened when citizens organized and forced the issue through traditional authority and legal action.

The Pattern

Who Benefited:

• Chinese mining operators extracted resources and profits
• Farmers received one-time payments that couldn’t compensate for permanent land loss
• The district lost agricultural capacity and environmental health

Who Lost:

• Farmers who trusted incomplete information
• Communities dependent on that agricultural land
• Future generations inheriting destroyed land
• The district’s long-term economic viability

Why It Worked:

Whatever the reason officials didn’t intervene – lack of resources, lack of political will, or incentives we can’t verify – the result was the same. Citizens were left to protect themselves. The system that should have protected farmers from exploitation through regulation and oversight, that should have directed mining operations toward legitimate lands, that should have enforced licensing requirements – simply didn’t function.

What Changed It:

Only when citizens organized – AsaaseNnua, traditional authorities like King Owusu taking direct action, farmers coordinating their resistance, legal victories forcing deportations – did the pattern shift. Not because official systems suddenly started working, but because citizens forced accountability from outside the broken system.