Administrator of the Minerals Development Fund, Dr. Hanna Louisa Bisiw-Kotei, says mining communities must see tangible, holistic development that goes beyond ‘token’ projects.
She insists that interventions should match the actual needs of residents and facilitate infrastructural and economic development.
Speaking on the operations of the MDF, Dr. Bisiw-Kotei said the Fund is committed to addressing the imbalance where mineral wealth is extracted from communities while they are left with poverty, contaminated water, and degraded farmlands.
“We take all the good things and we leave all the bad things contaminated water, farms that are no longer sustainable because of contaminated soil,” she said.
She spoke on the sidelines of the launch of Local Management Committees for ten mining communities in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions.
Many mining communities continue to reel from the devastation left behind by mining activities.
As illegal mining continues to rise, major water and soil resources in some of these mining areas are being destroyed, resulting in poverty in the communities.
According to Dr. Bisiw-Kotei, there is a need for the communities to be provided with what she describes as “real development”.
This implies investing in human resource development and equipping residents with skills to participate meaningfully in mining and its value chain.
“Sometimes development is even human resource. How well are the people developed?” she quizzed.
“They live in these mining communities. You can actually train them in mining, how to operate equipment. These are some of the things we will engage on,” Dr. Bisiw-Kotei added.
She said the MDF will leverage Ghana’s local content regulations in the mining sector to ensure residents benefit from mining support services.
Dr. Bisiw-Kotei added that the Fund will prioritise projects with “real impact” rather than scattered, low-value interventions.
“We want to leave communities with skilled human resources, not just say ‘we trained you’. We want it to be standard, so they can compete,” she said.
Local Management Committees
The Minerals Development Fund has inaugurated Local Management Committees for nine communities in the Eastern and Ashanti Regions.
The communities include Birim North, Obuasi East, Adansi Asokwa, Amansie West and Amansie South Districts.
Others are Amansie Central, Obuasi, Adansi North and Akrofuom Districts.
These committees are to ensure mineral royalties translate into meaningful, transparent and sustainable community development.
Through community engagements, the LMCs are to identify priority development needs within mining communities for the MDF to execute tailored development projects that benefit mining communities.
They will also supervise and monitor project implementation on the ground, ensuring accountability and transparent use of resources.
The MDF’s support to the communities will be anchored on infrastructure development, economic empowerment, and environmental and social protection.
The projects will be funded by mineral royalties paid to the government by mining companies.
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