NGO calls for minerals revenue management policy

Mr. Benjamin Boakye, Programme Director of Africa Centre For Energy Policy (ACEP), a non-governmental Organisation (NGO), has advocated a comprehensive minerals revenue management policy in Ghana.

He said the legal framework would guide government’s spending patterns of mineral extraction.

Mr. Boakye was discussing the stand of ACEP with 30 participants in relation to usage of mineral revenues by government at a workshop at Sunyani.

It was on the topic: ‘Multi-Stakeholders Consultation on Proposal For A Mineral Revenue in Ghana’ and aimed at tapping the views of participants drawn from security services, mining communities, media, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Catholic University of Ghana (CUG), University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR).

Mr. Boakye said even though mineral revenues constituted an important source of revenues for the government management of mineral revenues over the years had not translated Ghana’s mineral wealth into tangible development outcomes for the people.

He said lack of; fiscal framework for managing mineral revenues, an investment and savings strategy, as well as a comprehensive accounting framework, had been some challenges for the country to address the macroeconomic challenges associated with commodity price volatility and fiscal sustainability.

Mr. Boakye said discipline was now prevailing in management of petroleum revenues since enactment of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815), adding it was time the nation developed a law to govern the management of mineral revenue.

He revisited the suggestion that the Petroleum Revenue Management Act should be transformed into an Extractive Revenue Management Act to cover both petroleum and mineral revenues with a reporting format that disaggregates revenue by source and project.

He said “if Government is unable to do this, a separate law to govern the management of mineral revenue must be enacted.”