NGO proposes key amendments to Ghana Minerals and Mining Act 2012

The Livelihood and Environment Ghana (LEG), an advocacy organisation for environmental justice, has proposed key issues to amend the Minerals and Mining (Compensation and Resettlement) Act, 2012.

The proposal is expected to address challenges of compensation and resettlement between the mining companies and the farmers in the affected communities.

Dr Abdulai Darimani, a research consultant, and Mr Richard Adjei-Poku, Executive Director of LEG, made the presentation on the draft policy proposal on the amendments with Civil Society Organisations and the media in Accra.

Mr Adjei-Poku said the Act lacked provisions for speculative activities, moratoriums, alternative farmland, time limits for negotiations, youth employment, meaningful consultation and definitions for economic well-being and social and cultural values.

He said the mineral right holder declared a moratorium, which prohibited affected persons from undertaking certain economic and social activities in specified areas.

The challenge, he said, in the Act was the lack of a clear procedure for imposing the moratorium and that the time limit was open-ended, which created room for disagreement.

To address the challenge, the organisation had proposed that a moratorium should be made a legal requirement and also provide a clear procedure and time limits for its imposition.

Consistent with the 1992 Constitution, Regulation 6(1) of L.I 2175, requires the mineral right holder to resettle inhabitants who have been displaced by his operations.

“Suitable alternative land and the resettlement shall have regard to the economic well-being and socio-cultural values of the persons to be resettled with the objective to improve the livelihoods and standards of living of those people.”

The LEG proposed that the amendment should make provision for Ghana’s context-specific legal definition for suitable alternative land, economic well-being and socio-cultural values to provide a minimum basis for resettlement planning.

Mr Adjei-Poku said Regulation 4(b) of the Act provided for compensation in respect of deprivation of use or a particular use of the natural surface of land.

The organisation proposed the amendment of L.I. 2175 to require the mineral right holder and the Minister to provide alternative suitable farmland, equal in value to what was lost by the farmers.

The LEG proposed the amendment of regulation 2012 (L.I.2175) to make provision for meaningful consultation and engagement with communities, particularly property owners, before and during the assessment and determination of payable compensation.

The organisation also proposed the amendment of the Act to require both the annual publication of the price list for crops and public notification of the published price list by the Land Valuation Division, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and key agencies.

Apart from the Act, the organisation identified issues like youth employment, sustainable access to safe water after mine life, a new model for compensation, and the rehabilitation of roads which needed implementation.

Mr Adjei-Poku said the implementation of the policy proposal would benefit the government, the mineral right holder and the mining-affected communities to work in a peaceful atmosphere without disagreement.

Source: GNA

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