Transparency Campaign On Mining Launched

By Stephen Kwabena Effah
Monday, 16 October 2006(Page 12)

A coalition of civil society organisation in Ghana has launched a mining sector revenue transparency campaign to hold government accountable for the management of revenue from the mining industries in the country.

The campaign, dubbed "Publish What You Pay (PWYP)" is under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) that aims at improving natural resource governance in resource-rich countries through full publication and verification of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining.

The initiative is also to promote sustainable development, reduce poverty and eliminate conflict and social tension in communities affected by extractive industries.

Speaking at the launch in Accra last week, the Coordinator of the campaign, Dr.Steve Manteaw said that the immediate causes of most of the violence characterising the mining sector in Ghana include irresponsible mining practices and failure on the mining companies to comply with compensation and resettlement agreements reached with communities.

"The reason most communities are up in arms today is that, while so much wealth is generated from mining and other extractives in the communities, the ordinary people become ever more impoverished," he said, adding that the pursuit of development through mineral exploitation is fast becoming an illusion in many developing countries.

"He said the EITI would provide a welcome opportunity of re-examining the institutional arrangements and mechanisms for minimising revenue leakages, to ensure that mining works for the people and contributes to national economic development.

"Transparency in the extractive sector is important not the least, because the sector resources are finite, non-renewable, but that the damage caused to the environment in exploiting them is long lasting", he stated.

"For which reason, we as a people must ensure that dividends from such undertakings are utilised responsibly, transparently, and to the benefit of all, especially those immediately and negatively affected by extractive activities", he added.

He noted that most extractive resource-rich developing countries score poorly on good governance indicator rankings and are found at the bottom third of Transparency International’s annual ranking of countries by perception of corruption.

The Economic Programme Officer of Open Society Initiative for West Africa, Michel Saraka Kouame said that West Africa has about 10 per cent of the world’s natural resources yet its citizenry continues to suffer from poverty.

He attributed the situation to the African leaders’ mismanagement of the natural resources.

He expressed his organisation’s support for the successful implementation of the programme to ensure better lives for the citizenry.