Dr. Steve Manteaw
Co-Chairman of the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), Dr. Steve Manteaw, has expressed a different view to the call by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to ban all forms of small-scale mining in the country, stating that a ban on small-scale mining will be problematic and unfair.
There have been calls from CSOs, and Organized Labour, among other notable institutions and groups to ban all forms of small-scale mining in the country to safeguard the country’s water bodies. These calls are a result of reports from the Water Resource Commission indicating disturbing levels of water turbidity in the rivers of the country.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ engagement in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, on the theme; “Leveraging the Presence of a Mine for Sustainable Development.” Dr. Manteaw described the call as unfair to the small-scale miners who are not mining closer to water bodies.
He said, “… that call is a bit problematic. Problematic because, first and foremost, if it has to do with the large-scale mines, they have contracts with our government, and we cannot unilaterally, as a country, abrogate the contract.
We’ll end up in international arbitration, and we have recent experiences where our properties are being seized abroad. Based on the contract these companies have with our government, they’ve gone to raise loans to finance the operations. If you ban them, how will they pay for their loans? And they will have every legitimate right to seek international arbitration and compensation for whatever they lose as a result of that action.
Now, when it comes to small-scale mining, if you allow the large-scale miners to continue to mine, and then you ban the small-scale wholesale, you’re also being unfair to those who are mining legitimately and not causing any harm. I have been to the Savannah area, Dollar Power, Tinga, and other places in the Savannah area. These are underground mining, they are not polluting any water bodies, and yet you are saying, let’s ban them. Are you being fair to these people? Of course, there will be resistance.”
Dr. Manteaw therefore called on the government to find alternative ways to tackle illegal mining (‘Galamsey’) rather than sacrificing the good number of small-scale miners in the name of protecting the environment.
“When it comes to the pollution of water bodies, for me, the challenge really is that people are mining in the course of the water. They are mounting machines and dredging the riverbed, and that is what is causing the pollution and the use of dangerous chemicals such as mercury. I strongly believe that our security agencies have the capacity to stem the tide easily if the president will endorse an action that gives them the power to go out there and stop Galamsey.
What do you need? You need covert operations where you send intelligence officers to go and mingle with the miners. You also plant within the miners informants who will give you information about them and you swoop and arrest them. Now, we know that the people in the pit are not the actual culprits.
It is the politically exposed persons who are financing their operations. So, if the president endorses that, he will not intervene, he will not clear any minister who is arrested in such operations, then you will find that they will all sit up, they will withdraw, and the rivers will gain their clarity. We’ve always mined on a small-scale level.
We’ve not had this problem. So, for me, if we are having this problem today, let’s have a target solution to the targeted problem rather than a wholesale ban.” Dr. Manteaw noted.
The stakeholders’ engagement meeting was an initiative by the Ghana Chamber of Mines aimed at enhancing mining Districts and Communities to leverage on the presence of a mine for development. The Program was attended by traditional leaders, personnel from the mining district assemblies, and Personnel from Cardinal Namdini Mining Limited amongst other stakeholders.
From: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga