African countries have been made to believe
that their minerals and other natural resources if well harnessed could play a
key role in their development. Ghana
for instance has long and rich history of mining and the industry has been
central to the political economy of the country. Africa’s unique mineral resource endowment
offers a window of opportunity for African countries to extract better terms
from their exploitation and to catalyze growth, poverty eradication and
economic transformation. While mining makes some contribution to government
revenue, employment generation, foreign exchange earnings and community development,
current realities have demonstrated that African countries including Ghana have
not optimized the benefits of mining.
In
the face of economic difficulties facing Ghana during the late 1970s to early
1980s, and as a consequence of the global scheme for economic restructuring for
developing countries at the instance of the World Bank, the country’s attention
was directed to the role of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the mining
sector. In the early 1980s, Ghana embarked on a scale of mining sector reforms
(which did not have any historical precedent) and formulated generous
investment laws and regulations to enable FDI flows into the sector. The
reforms translated into mining boom, particularly in the gold sub-sector. Gold
mining which was originally concentrated in the Western and Ashanti Regions of
Ghana have now extended to other parts of the country such as the Eastern,
Brong-Ahafo, Central, Northern and the Upper East and West regions. This
together with the type of methods used and the manner in which the
lands/concessions are granted for mining in the country has often resulted in
very negative impacts on affected communities.
Studies
have found that indigenous people in Africa have lost, or are under imminent
threat of losing their ancestral lands, territories and natural resources as a
result of unfair exploitation for the sake of development. According to
literature, natural resource extraction projects such as mining are
land–intensive and water-intensive and often directly affect the collective
rights of indigenous peoples to their lands and territories which often
generate conflicts between corporations, indigenous people and the State over
development projects which are initiated without consultation or consent of the
very people who are dispossessed of their lands. With time these conflicts have
intensified, often resulting in violent clashes between companies and
communities. These conflicts have often revolved around the followings:
·
access
to land within areas granted to mining companies by local communities who are
often in occupation of the land prior to the grant or who exercise user rights
in respect of the land;
·
the
lack of or inadequate compensation for deprivation of land and or the destruction of economic crops;
·
pollution
of sources of drinking water of local communities without the provision of
alternative drinking water sources;
·
destruction
of sources of employment and livelihood;
·
destruction
of cultural sites; and
·
violation
of fundamental human rights with impunity.
These human rights violations and environmental
degradation as noted cut across many countries in West Africa sub-region where
natural resource extraction is taking place. While the above issues are
worrying, most of affected mining communities are unable to access justice for their
violated rights. This situation is worsened by inadequate access to legal
education, information and legal aid and the inability of poor communities to
afford legal representation.
The
issue of human rights violations in mining communities will never die unless
and until somebody takes leadership responsibility to care for people. My name
is Kofi Anokye, a development enthusiast, and by the time I leave this world,
it must be better than I found it. Brains, not natural resources, develop a
nation!
