Mining communities development fund advocated

The Ghana Mineworkers Union (GMWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has advocated for the establishment of a mining communities development fund by the Government to help accelerate the development of host communities.

“The Ghana Mineworkers Union wishes to re-echo two proposals it has since 2010 lobbied and advocated for on many platforms”, Mr Sampson Agyapong, Research Officer of the Union said at a National Mining Forum at Obuasi.

The forum, which was participated by a cross–section of stakeholders in mining made up of mining communities, civil society organizations, government officials, mining companies and the general public, was organised by the National Coalition on Mining (NCOM).

It afforded the stakeholders a greater opportunity to discuss the intended closure of the Obuasi Mine by AngloGold Ashanti and place the mine on "care and maintenance” regime for two years.

Mr Agyapong said the fund should be different from the current royalty system into which 25 per cent of all mining receipts to government from the communities would be lodged; adding, “this fund, when established, will be the catalyst around which the community development would revolve."

He suggested the encouragement of public private partnership in the mining sector targeting the Ghanaian private sector as the current situation where the formal large scale sub-sector of the industry was completely owned by foreign capital was unsustainable if the industry was to contribute meaningfully to the country’s development. Mr Sulemanu Koney, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, advocated for the passage of the Minerals Development Fund Bill which was expected to align government’s expenditure of a proportion of mineral revenue to the developmental aspirations of host communities.

He said the draft bill, which was being considered by the Attorney General’s Department, would link mineral revenue expenditure to the provision of physical infrastructure whose benefits would be enduring and encompassing.

Mr Koney noted that the chamber had made overtures to the Government to increase the proportion of mineral royalty returned to the host mining communities from the prevailing nine percent to 30 per cent.

Our position is predicated on the inability of the District Assemblies to undertake any meaningful development project with their share of the royalty revenue, he said.

In a statement, the National Coalition on Mining called on the Government to make full disclosure about the extent to which AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) had met the terms under which it (government) agreed with the multinational to take over former Ashanti Goldfields Company.

Mr Richard Ellimah, Executive Director of Centre for Social Impact Studies (CeSIS) and member of the Coalition, who read the statement, appealed to the Government to publicly clarify its position on AGA’s closure plans.

The Coalition further asked that the Government should involve other stakeholders, including civil society groups, in discussion around AGA’s proposals to close the Obuasi Mine for a period of two years.

Representatives from mining communities like Prestea, Tarkwa, Ahafo Kenyase and Ntotoroso shared their bitter experiences on how mining had destroyed their water bodies.

They also called on the Obuasi Community to be critical about the intended “care and maintenance” regime of the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine to avoid perpetual closure as it happened elsewhere.

Nana Baffour Aboagye Agyeman II, Fomena Krontihene, chaired the forum on behalf of the Adansehene, Opagyakotwere Bosra Afriyie.