CSOs rubbish Minerals Commission’s claim over Mole National Park

Civil Society Organizations have brushed aside accusations by the Minerals Commission that the CSOs peddled outright falsehood when they suggested that mining permits have been issued for the prospecting of gold near the Mole National Park.

In a strongly-worded statement signed by Wacam, CEPIL and CEIA, the CSOs insisted that they “never said mining permits have been issued for the prospecting of gold in the Mole National Park” during their press conference in Accra, as suggested by the Minerals Commission.

Below is the full Statement of the CSOs

We have sighted a Rejoinder signed by Mr Martin Ayisi, the Acting CEO of Minerals Commission creating the wrong impression that the Press statement by Wacam, CEPIL, CEIA at the Press Conference held on 22nd April 2021 to celebrate the World Environment Day alleged that mining permits have been issued for mining in or near Mole National Park.

The Rejoinder of the Minerals Commission stated that, “It has come to the attention of the Minerals Commission that certain Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have alleged that Mining Permits have been issued for mining in or near the Mole National park in the Savannah Region. This allegation and/or assertion is not the case. No such Mining Permit has been issued for the Purpose.”

Our Press statement did not say that Mining Permit has been issued for mining in the Mole National Park.

Our Press Statement stated inter alia that, “Government has also granted mining exploration right to Azuma mining company to explore for gold near the Mole National Park”.

The mining exploration near the Mole National Park will affect the integrity of this important National Park because of the Elephant corridor used by the elephants to commute between the park and Burkina Faso.

We wish to state that state institutions entrusted with the responsibility to protect the integrity of our forest reserves and national parks failed to exercise due care which had been the cause of increased mining operations in forest reserves that the nation is grappling with today.

We recognise the efforts of government to halt the level of destruction caused to our forest reserves by “withdrawing exploration and mining permits in forest reserves,” but it does not take away the fact that the Minerals Commission and other regulatory institutions had contributed to the problems confronting the nation by granting exploratory and mining permits for mining in forest reserves in Ghana.

We wish to emphasise that the granting of exploratory permit by the Minerals Commission near the Mole National Park has the tendency to affect the integrity of the National Park.

Whilst commending government for issuing a Directive to suspend Reconnaissance and /or prospecting activities in all forest reserves across the country, we re-iterate our call on government to stop mining activities in forest reserves and to place a moratorium on the granting of mining leases and permits for all surface mining operations whilst we assess the cost of degradation and prescribe remedies.

In the spirit of partnership in this critical period when the country is trying to work together to find solutions to the many problems around surface mining, it is expected that the Minerals Commission will adopt the approach of working closely with CSOs.

Signed:

Mr Augustine Niber, Executive Director, CEPIL

Dr Samuel Obiri, Executive Director, CEIA

Mrs Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, Associate Executive Director, Wacam