The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Tarkwa Nsuaem, Mr Benjamin Kessie, has praised Friends of the Nation (FoN), a socio-environmental advocacy Non-governmental Organisation, for its constant public education on challenges facing the mining districts.
He said through FoN’s effort, the Municipal Assembly had identified and addressed some of these challenges, to ensure the effective utilisation of the Mineral Development Fund (MDF).
Mr Kessie made this revelation in Ahwetieso in the Western Region, when FoN with support from Oxfam implemented the ‘Fair for all’ Project, which basically looked at the extractive sector, MDF for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly’s (MMDAs) and its impact among others.
The stakeholder’s engagement brought together mining companies such as Gold Fields Ghana Limited (GFGL), Tarkwa Mine, AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem Mine, residents from mining communities and officials of the Municipal Assembly.
Mr Kessie said the Ghana Manganese Company Limited (GMCL) had been mining
bauxite for over 100 years, yet they had not done much for its catchment area, compared to Tarkwa Mine and Iduapriem Mine, which had contributed immensely to the communities in which they operated.
He extoled the two mining companies within the municipality for the numerous projects they had been funding to improve upon the lives of the citizens in their host communities and beyond and advised GMCL to do same.
Mr Kessie also called on the residents of Tarkwa Nsuaem to always create an enabling environment for the mining firms and others to go about their duties in a peaceful atmosphere.
GFGL, Tarkwa Mine and Iduapriem Mine were given the opportunity to present what they had done respectively, for their respective communities in areas such as health, water and sanitation, education, agriculture and Infrastructure.
These included training, apprenticeship programmes, scholarships and enterprise development.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for FoN, Nana Efua Ewur, reiterated the organisation’s read
iness to always ensure they worked closely with all MMDAs in mining areas, so they utilised their mineral revenue for the approved projects.
Some residents from the mining communities who participated in the programme told the Ghana News Agency that they would always support FoN to make proposals for effective mineral revenue management, to influence the review of the Mineral Development Fund Act, 2016, (Act 912).
Source: Ghana News Agency