Ghanaians sell mining licences to foreigners — Ben Aryee

The Chief Executive of the Minerals Commission, Mr Ben Aryee, says between 80 and 90 per cent of mining licences are given to Ghanaians but those Ghanaians end up selling them cheaply to foreigners who compound the environmental challenges in the sector.

He said increasingly the government had endeavoured to institute laws and regulations beneficial to Ghanaians but analysis showed that 80 to 90 per cent of the licences given to them were sold.

He said Ghanaians were made to pay about GH¢500 for licences, while foreigners were to pay about $1,000.

Mr Aryee made the submissions in response to queries raised at a public forum organised by the Third World Network, Africa on, “Enhancing public knowledge and engagement in support of mining reforms and contract re-negotiations”.

The forum had an impressive turnout of officials from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and dignitaries such as the Chairman of the Mining Reform and Re-negotiating Committee, Prof Akilagpa Sawyerr,  and the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa.

It was also attended by representatives of civil society organisations in development, community-based organisations from Ellembele in the Western Region, Obuasi, Tarkwa, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, as well as some representatives of mining companies and the Ghana Chamber of Mines.

Before Mr Aryee’s submissions, a Technical Director of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Simon Atebiya, had given an overview of the issues being dealt with by the Mining Reform and Re-negotiating Committee set up by the government.

The terms of reference include the review and re-negotiation of stability agreements between the country and mining companies, fiscal regimes and governments’s participating interests.

Mr Atebiya said information gathered from the study of agreements led to some negotiations with Newmont and AngloGold.

He said issues which informed the team included the maintenance of national control over the mining sector, while recognising investor interest in the profitability of investments and predictability of mining and fiscal regimes and using that to benchmark the sector.

He described the forum as timely and said the government would be open to the concerns raised.

The Executive Director of the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), Mr Augustine Niber, gave a review of an agreement between the government and Newmont which showed that most part of the document favoured mining companies.

For instance, under the agreement, the company benefitted from generous tax allowances and concessions outside the prescribed tax laws of the country.

The General Secretary of the Ghana Mineworkers Union, Mr Prince Ankrah, said the conviction among political leaders to lead change processes to make mining more beneficial to communities was key.

He criticised corporate social initiative programmes in grasscutter rearing and snail farming as not sustainable enough and wondered why mining communities could not benefit from industrial set ups that provided goods and services for the sector.

A member of the Economic Justice Network, Mr Tetteh Hormeku, said there was the need for the country to be keenly aware of all its bilateral and multilateral engagements in order not to shoot itself in the foot.

In his contribution, Prof Sawyerr said there was the need for a paradigm shift in the country’s political economy, as constraints by the government in sourcing for funds sometimes limited the space for negotiations.

He said a sub-committee had been carved out of their team to look into the issues of galamsey operations and other issues and indicted institutions that had failed to ensure that Ghanaians benefitted from the sector.

Setting the tone for the forum, Mr Yao Graham of the TWN-Africa said there was some convergence of purpose from people in the sub-region, but challenges persisted in cooperation among African countries who were competing with one another and in most cases lowering standards to attract investments.

He said the forum had implications outside the mining sector, as it showed a hunger by the public for information and the attitude by most public servants who preferred not to speak when they were in doubt of what to say.

He said issues about corporate social responsibility and the model of economy of growth without jobs, which was driving the youth into illegal mining operations, all needed to be interrogated.

Some officials from the GRA said although there was a revised law in the sector (that is, Act 703 of 2006), some mining companies were still operating and enjoying exemptions specified under the old law ( that is, PNDCL 153 of 1986) and asked the team to look into it.

Source: Daily Graphic