An aspiring Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia in the Eastern Region, Mr Basil Ahiable, has commended the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for showing concern about the deprived condition of inhabitants of mining communities. Mr Ahiable was reacting to a recent report compiled by the CHRAJ, which identified various forms of human rights abuse suffered by communities in areas where there had been vigorous mining activities. The report noted that despite the rich mineral wealth of those communities, the lifestyles of the local people had not improved in anyway. Basic infrastructure such as schools, health facilities and employment opportunities have been absent. In addition, mining activities have contributed to serious environmental degradation and pollution in the various mining communities to the disadvantage of the inhabitants . Mr Ahiable, who spoke to the Daily Graphic in Accra, said his only regret was that the CHRAJ report focused only on the newly emerging communities to the neglect of the old ones such as Akwatia, which had been a major diamond mining centre for decades. He said, "The case of Akwatia is very pathetic as most of the youth in the area are now jobless and are struggling to survive." Mr Ahiable, who wants to stand as an independent parliamentary candidate for the Akwatia Constituency seat, stressed the need for serious interventions to ensure that even when mineral activities ceased, people in those communities would not be handicapped in terms of employment and a respectable standard of living. On the response of the constituents to his campaign message, Mr Ahiable said there was every indication that the people of Akwatia wanted a change in parliamentary representation and he was their obvious choice. He described his campaign as moving very smoothly despite attempts by a few people to undermine him, using what is commonly described as Communist Inferior Tactics.