Public Agenda (Accra)
Ebenezer Hanson
20 April 2009
analysis
Accra — A question that has been asked for the umpteenth time by social and economic rights activists is whether state institutions in the extractive sector tend to lower regulatory standards and practice for mining and timber companies at the expense of legitimate concerns of local communities, and the protection of the environment.
Their anxiety is borne not out of the figment of their imagination and mere emotions but on countless empirical and incontrovertible evidence of fragrant violation of human rights of mining communities, some of which were well captured in a Report by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) on social and economic rights of mining communities in Ghana released in 2008.
The National Coalition on Mining (NCOM) and Forest Watch Ghana (FWG) are two of such social and economic rights activists who share the view that state actors have been abdicating their responsibilities and thereby creating a leeway for the extractive industries to exploit, and in the process it is the communities, many a time economically challenged, who become the victims.
NCOM and FWG a fortnight ago explicitly stated their stance at a news conference to protest against the activities of Golden Star Resources, an American gold mining company whose activities, they claimed, have destroyed farms in Grumesa, a farming community in the Wassa Amenfi East District in the Western Region, and yet have not paid compensation to farmers.
"Communities affected by mining and their counterparts in and around forest reserves have often been treated as if they do not have full human rights such as the rights to livelihood, respect, freedom of expression, development and to economic rights. While the policy framework and the practice of state institutions often guarantee full protection for mining and timber companies, the same cannot be said when it comes to legitimate concerns of local communities."
They reinforced their belief when they added, "The over zealousness to protect transnational corporations tend to lower regulatory standards and practice, and compromise the ability of the state to protect communities and the environment".
But it is just mind boggling how in the face of the copious provisions in the Mineral and Mining Act, 2006 which seek to provide adequate safeguards against owners or lawful occupiers of land, duty bearers disregard the law and act in concert with companies to trample upon the rights of mining communities.
Section 73(1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 provides, "The owner or lawful occupier of any land subject to a mineral right is entitled to and may claim from the holder of the mineral right compensation for the disturbance of the rights of the owner or occupier in accordance with section 74".
Section 74 (1) (c) states that, "The compensation to which an owner or lawful occupier may be entitled, may include compensation for, in the case land under cultivation, loss of earnings or sustenance suffered by owner or lawful occupier, having due regard to the nature of their interest in the land, and (d) adds that, "loss of expected income, depending on the nature of crops on the land and their life expectancy."
At the said interaction with the media, Francis Kofi, Ras Charles Anane, Francis Kona, Nana Kyiame Tebua and Mrs. Wediness Coffie all of Grumesa related harrowing experiences regarding the loss of farm crops due to the alleged activities of Golden Star Resources.
The questions that readily thrust themselves to the fore are: what happened to the adherence of the provisions on compensation under the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006. Is there any dereliction of duty on the part of duty bearers?
In the said CHRAJ Report on human rights in mining communities, the Commission pronounced the mining companies guilty of various forms of human rights abuses.
Some of the violations included widespread pollution of water bodies, health problems, use of both state and private security to torture mining community members and inadequate compensation. The inimical development, according to CHRAJ, if left unchecked could undermine the country's democracy and the benefit of mining for national development.
The call by CHRAJ is in the right direction, and the government spearheaded by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the relevant agencies should be up and doing to forestall the recurrence of such gross human rights abuses as have been witnessed in many mining communities in the past and the recent one in Grumesa. That is the only way the Minerals and Mining Law can become relevant to the needs of mining communities and the nation as a whole.
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