Stakeholders at a mining discussion board in Accra yesterday expressed concern concerning the method through which the federal government awards oil and gasoline exploration tasks to firms with out involving the native communities whose pure sources are going to be exploited.
They argued that the state of affairs most frequently ended up inflicting brawls between the native communities and the businesses as they weren’t briefed with the main points of the exploration, which regularly involves destroy their farmlands and water our bodies, in addition to undermine their well being.
The stakeholders included the Govt Director of Wacam, Mr Daniel Owusu- Koraanteng; Chief of Boabeng and member of the Advisory Board to Nkoranza Conventional Space, Nana Owusu Damoah Ameyaw III, a Senior Lecture on the College of Cape Coast, Dr Emmanuel Tenkorang; and a Senior Lecturer at College of Winneba, Dr Yaw Asamoah and Affiliate Govt Director of Wacam amongst others.
The discussion board, organized by Wacam, a community-based human rights and environmental mining advocacy non-governmental organisation, sought to tell and discover the extent of consciousness of communities and stakeholders in onshore oil and gasoline exploration and mining actions, respect for his or her proper, and their participation in facets of such actions.
Dr Tenkorang cited a analysis which discovered that the Ghana Nationwide Petroleum Fee (GNPC) employed Bureau and Geophysical Exploration (BGP), a Chinese language firm, for shore exploration with out the engagement of the individuals of Nkoranza North, Nkoranza South and Atebubu Amantin within the Bono East Area.
He mentioned even the district assemblies inside these districts had been neither consulted nor briefed concerning the undertaking, which in the long run destroyed individuals’s farm lands.
Dr Tenkorang mentioned of the 170 respondents engaged throughout the analysis, 79 per cent mentioned they turned conscious of the BGP exploration, though they weren’t duly engaged by GNPC earlier than hiring the corporate.
He mentioned 52 of the individuals tried to however couldn’t present the identify of the prospecting firm whereas these whose farms or lands had been destroyed mentioned they got little cash as compensation.
Dr Asamoah added that the low stage of participation of communities within the selections on the exploration and the situation beneath which BGP explored the minerals within the district had been in opposition to the rules relating to their social and cultural rights.
The Affiliate Director of Wacam, Mrs Hannah Owusu Koranteng, mentioned there have been conditions the place the state employed the usage of power to compel communities to simply accept mining tasks and ignored the issues raised by the communities who suffered from all types of environmental hazards throughout and after the exploration.
“We have now made comparable errors in Ghana with respect to gold mining in our quest to draw mining buyers to take advantage of our pure wealth. It isn’t late to alter the narrative by inserting human beings, particularly the residents who will likely be affected by the mistaken selections we take, on the centre of our growth choices to scale back their struggling.
“We have to start the implementation of the Free Prior and Knowledgeable Consent rules within the new areas of mining operations, particularly communities that may be affected by on-shore oil manufacturing,” she mentioned.
BY BERNARD BENGHAN
