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Mr Frank Aboagye Danyansah, the Progressive Peoples Party parliamentary candidate for Obuasi East Constituency, has proposed the construction of gold refinery in Obuasi to curb growing joblessness and reduce incidence of social vices among the youth.

The aspiring legislator proposal follows the relocation of AngloGold Ashanti’s concession in 2015 which has thrown scores of youth in the area out of jobs provoking continuous protests and demands for compensation.

Mr Danyansah, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Danywise Estate and Construction, told the Ghana News Agency that the development showed the frustration of the country’s energetic young people and the need to invest and harness their talents to drive national economy.

He said an ‘ambitious plan’ has already been unfolded to establish a gold processing plant capable of refining large quantities of the precious metal into finished products for local and international markets and create thousands of jobs in the area.

“The gold refinery will see to the processing of raw gold ore into finished products, we’ll use it to produce trophies, necklaces, wedding rings and other finished products in our area to help solve the chronic unemployment problem in Obuasi, because more jobs will be created through this noble plan,” he said.

The award winning estate developer said his vision was driven by his desire to serve the people with a development focus agenda to slash poverty in the area and hone the skills of the youth by applying his long-standing entrepreneurial expertise in generating employment opportunities.

“Adding value to our gold product has been an integral part of party’s strategic vision to improve skills of Obuasi youth and boost marketing activities, this novel approach can remove us from this our unemployment quagmire,” he said.

Mr Danyansah said plans to construct a constituency office and facilitate the building of a wood village and marketplace for hawkers and petty traders are also far advanced.

“I will lobby to convert the already existing timber market into an ultra-modern wood village,” he said, “this will revive the wood industry in Obuasi where more wooden finishes will be done through the use of sophisticated machines.”

“The people deserve better living conditions and must be empowered to control their destiny and resources, I plan to build an office for the constituency to facilitate frequent communication with the constituents,” he said.

The move, he noted, would help itemise and prioritise development concerns at the grass roots levels in the constituency and help fix the myriad of social and economic difficulties challenging sustainable development in the area.