Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, Executive Director CDD-Ghana
THE GHANA Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), with support from Ford Foundation, has initiated aproject to track the use of mineral revenues across mining districts in the country.
The ‘Mining Districts Development Scorecard’ (MDDS) seeks to track the transfer and use of mining revenues in mining districts to promote transparency and accountability and improve social and human development outcomes.
A release issued by CDD-Ghana said the project’s long-term goal is to empower and strengthen community participation in natural resource governance and management for better development outcomes at the sub-national level in Ghana.
It further noted that the MDDS project is being implemented in eight mining districts across six regions of Ghana.
The districts in focus includeTarkwaNsuaem, Prestea Huni-Valley, and Wassa East/Mpohor in the Western Region; BibianiAnhwiasoBekwai in the Western North Region; Birim North in the Eastern Region; Obuasi in the Ashanti Region; Asutifi North in the Ahafo Region; and Upper Denkyira West in the Central Region.
“These were carefully selected based on the quantum of mining resources they receive; and their socio-economic outlook using the District League Table (DLT) scores and poverty scores from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). Another indicator for their selection was the presence of social accountability-demanding groups such as the media and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that can use the information generated from the project for advocacy engagements,” the release said.
It explained that the two-year project will be executed in three phases with the first phase being, “the preparatory stage,” which is currently underway, and has seen fruitful engagements with key stakeholders who have been entrusted with and mandated to manage mineral resources and revenues.
These include state institutions like the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the Office of Local Government Service, and the Minerals Commission.
BY Jamila Akweley Okertchiri