Executive Vice President and Head of West Africa, Alfred Baku, has described Ghana Premier League side Medeama SC as a ‘best class club’ in the country.
According to him, the mining giants opted to support the Mauves and Yellow lads because of their class in the Ghanaian domestic league. Goldfields have been instrumental in the successful drive of Medeama, pumping in millions of dollars to drive the ambitious Ghanaian side over the past decade.
Goldfields, Tarkwa-Damang has won the hearts and minds after investing in the construction of a $13m 10,000 seater capacity stadium for the good people of Tarkwa.
The mining firm has been instrumental in driving juggernauts in the development and promotion of the game in the Western region of Ghana.
Alfred Baku, who is an alumni of the University of Mines and Technology (Umat), is given back to society by spearheading the redevelopment of the Tarkwa NA Aboso park, a project which has seen his outfit earn massive commendation by not only the residents in Tarkwa but football-loving fans across the country.
Born and raised in Ahinsah- Kumasi, Mr Baku’s remarkable leadership and direct involvement in getting the multi-national company to inject capital into the construction of the edifice has been hailed and one which will linger on the minds of the chiefs and people of Tarkwa for eternity.
”For now we want to fully concentrate on helping Medeama SC, a team that is located in our community and that falls into our corporate responsibility project to help them and also provide the Golf course with unflinching support,” said Baku in an interview.
”Reacting to a question asked him on how mining communities benefit from their work during an interview on JOY TV’s PM Express, the mining mogul said: ”What we have done as Goldfields is that we have what we call the Goldfields foundation and this is how the foundation works, every ounce of Gold that we produce, we set aside dollar which is one ounce one dollar.”
Mr Baku added that ”So Goldfields produce 800,000 ounces so we have so much and then in addition to that, we set aside 1.5% of our profit before tax, so before we take the profit to Government, we take one and half per cent and add it to the one dollar per ounce. So we use that money to help in the electrification of our host community, water and sanitation, agriculture, infrastructure and a lot them, If you look at the road between Tarkwa and Damang, I have sure you’ve plied that road before if you look at the road it’s first class. We spent almost thirty million to actually resurface that road where it is now asphalt, finished and it’s fantastic.”
”Also one of them is the Tarkwa T& A Park that we are doing, you Know Medeama is the best class club and is the host community club as well so we are upgrading that stadium from400 capacity to 10,000 capacity that we are doing.” He further stated.
The new stadium will be a major boost for the players, coaching staff and the people of Tarkwa.
It will help to attract and retain talents as well as providing an excellent base for community engagement and footballing excellence in the Southern part of Ghana that will inspire future generations.
Goldfields have not relentless in their resolve to keep faith with the people by continuously supporting their biggest and enviable brand – Medeama Sporting Club. Gold Fields Ghana Limited as part of their social corporate responsibility, recently announced a sponsorship deal worth 300,000.00 dollars for Medeama SC and the deal will last till 2023.