Public Agenda (Accra)
Selorm Amevor
4 July 2008
The Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has said that communities impacted by mining activities have not benefited directly from mining royalties.
According to CHRAJ the current problem could be attributed to the fact that the constitution does not specifically require the traditional authorities to distribute the percentage received in any coherent manner. Also there is no transparency in the collection and distribution of the revenues.
CHRAJ further reveals that there is no apparent procedure or means by which inhabitants of the various traditional stools in the mining communities can ascertain the amount of royalties or revenue received from the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands.
In a draft investigative report into the state of human rights in mining communities, CHRAJ points out that its findings have revealed that although there is a clear distinction between the traditional authority and the stool, the 20% and 25% meant for the different groups go to the same people namely, the chief and his elders to the exclusion of the inhabitants of the stool community.
"The inhabitants have been deprived of their livelihood through the expropriation of their lands for mining purposes. Yet, they hardly benefit from the royalties paid for the use of their land, there is a need to clarify the law in this area," it added.
Touching on compensation and resettlement for mining communities, the report indicated that most communities were highly dissatisfied with the compensation paid by mining companies for crops.
According to the report, the complaints were pervasive throughout large scale mining sites, but were more topical in areas operated by Anglo Gold Ashanti in Obuasi and Newmont Gold Ghana Limited (NGGL).
The report said community members complained that they received inadequate compensation from companies for destroyed farms and crops. In addition , some community members suggested that no matter how huge the compensation paid it was never beneficial to them and recommended that , instead of taking over the land and paying ,them once , they should negotiate monthly payment.
Also, they alleged that the process used to determine the value of their crops was unfair since in many cases the community alleged that company's workers valued the farms affected for compensation, instead of independent bodies doing the valuation.
The report further indicated that communities were not adequately consulted in the derivation of their value of the properties, in some cases companies often destroyed their properties before unilaterally determining how much they should receive; contrary to the Minerals and Mining Act which provides that companies negotiate directly with communities on matters regarding compensation.
"Given the incapability of the communities, companies have undue advantage of these communities," it added.
CHRAJ says the problems relating to compensation and resettlement are some of the key challenges in the communities affected by mining activities in Ghana, since the issues are complicated by lack of conceptual clarity concerning ownership of the land and its resources.
The report observed that the ordinary farmer is always placed at the disadvantage vis-à-vis the company, since there is no evidence that the principles governing the payment of compensation under section 74 of the Act have been followed in the negotiations.
CHRAJ revealed that in terms of knowledge, education and financial capacity the farmers are at a weaker bargaining position and as a result, the companies have taken undue advantage in determining the amount of compensation paid for their properties affected by mining activities, including crops.
Touching on livelihood and employment, the report indicated that there was high discontent among communities due to the inability of the mining companies in their area to employ the youth and were also dissatisfied with the number of community members employed by the companies.
The report says one of the constraining factors why communities do not benefit from employment is the lack of skills required by the companies; this excuse was however dismissed by the communities claiming that is at variance with the promises of companies to offer them jobs, as a prerequisite for operating in their communities.
CHRAJ therefore recommended concerted efforts to prepare communities in the form of giving the youth appropriate skills for projects, the district administration and Youth Employment Scheme in such districts should play a critical role. It pointed out that Galamsey, which is very pervasive in most of the mining areas is bolstered by lack of viable employment or livelihood alternatives.
However, the activities of these galamsey miners provoked mixed reactions from various stakeholders. In most communities it was seen as a legitimate livelihood endeavour, whereas some saw it as a nuisance and accused them of destroying farms and polluting water bodies.
"In areas where they operate in concessions of large-scale and registered small scale concessions, they are regarded as criminal encroachers," it added.
Broadly, the report which is expected to be launched in the latter part of the year revealed that there has been widespread pollution of water sources, deprivation, loss of livelihoods, health problems, use of both state and private security to torture community members and inadequate compensation.
According to the report mining companies have provided a variety of projects such as schools, boreholes, community centres, electricity and renovation of existing facilities in some of the communities.
Although some communities showed appreciation for the projects others felt they were not consulted and would prefer other facilities they considered more important.
And to make these projects more meaningful to the beneficiary communities CHRAJ recommended that companies should adequately consult communities on the selection, design and implementation of projects.
According to CHRAJ sustainable livelihood projects are a novelty and the concepts appear to have been embraced and implemented by all mining companies visited, however the effectiveness of these projects and their ability to meet the intended goals were difficult to ascertain.
CHRAJ indicated that the near uniformity of these programs namely grasscutter , guinea pig and snail raring , bee keeping , aqua culture ,oil palm and vegetable farming across many communities with varied cultures raises serious questions.
The report said that while some beneficiaries of the projects expressed their appreciation, others considered them as mere public relations gimmick without real value to them.
In addition some community members insisted that these programs were too restricted to selected individuals and therefore made little impact on the community as a whole.
The report is the outcome of investigations launched in December 2006 aimed at assessing the human rights situation in mining communities, examining the extent of pollution of water bodies and the causes of environmental degradation and promoting cordial relations between mining companies and communities and was funded by DFID,UNDP and DANIDA.
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