Accra — The Minister of Lands, Mines and Forestry, Professor Dominic Fobih took a fair share of the anger of both civil society organizations and the communities affected by mining when the Coordinator of the Third World Network (TWN), Dr. Yao Graham accused him of bending backwards and dancing to every tune of mining companies instead of seeking and protecting the interest of Ghanaians.

"There is evidence that at every stage of the draft bill, the government went every length possible to consult the Ghana Chamber of Mines on every word, clause and detail that served the interest of mining companies instead of asking for inputs from the people of Ghana," he said, stating that "the Lands, Mines and Forestry Minister has become more or less an errand boy for mining companies."

Dr. Graham was speaking in Accra, Thursday, October 13, at the national conference of communities affected by mining on the new minerals and mining bill, which is before Ghana's legislature, parliament. Dr. Rose Mensah Kutin chaired the function.

Dr. Graham's comments came following a statement attributed to the minister, which quoted him as saying that enough room for consultation had been created for everyone to send their views to government or the relevant parliamentary committee.

Dr. Graham said the minister's observations were based on the false presumptions that first, "somehow people would have gotten to know of the existence of the Mining Bill without any effort from government to disseminate it," second, "that there is an established culture of people writing memoranda to government and parliament," and "that people in this country deserve not to be treated as well as the mining companies, which government went to great lengths to consult."

But Dr. Graham's whip did not stop at the minister's back. He accused the Ghana Chamber of Mines, which has Ms. Joyce Aryee, a former secretary of State for Education and one time public relations boss of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as its Chief executive Officer (CEO), as a colonial tool of exploitation.

He said the posture of the Ghana Chamber of Mines in the governance of the country, especially when it comes to regulating mining activities in the country is but a sad continuation of what existed during the colonial days when it held a position in the Governor's Council. "Though it may not have that formal a position today, but the influence remain undiminished," he noted.

He then took the battle to Members of Parliament (MPs) and accused them of indifference. He asked, "How many of the mining areas have the MPs bothered to consult with their people and discuss this all important new law with them? How many times do our MPs visit the mining companies and how many times do they sit with the communities to discuss their problems and how many of them have spoken on the floor of parliament about the effects of mining on their communities?"

He asked the MPs to prove their worth if they are really the people's representatives by suspending the Bill. But he has his doubts whether they would rise to the occasion. If the Minister, Prof. is but an errand boy, what else will the MPs want to be?

The people are with disaffection for their leaders though and are battle ready to protect their livelihoods if parliament will not live up its legitimacy.