Sharing a story from Ghana on the factors that continue to prevent mining-impacted communities from benefitting from proper revenue sharing. Originally published by The Conversation.
"Despite the establishment of the Minerals Development Fund, mining communities remained saddled with social, economic and ecological challenges. This was partly because transferred royalties were captured by local elites. And there were issues around prompt payments to the fund, its legal status and its mandate.
To address these issues, and to establish a mining community development scheme, a new law, the Minerals Development Fund Act was passed three years ago. The scheme is to receive 20 per cent of the fund’s share (which equals 4 per cent of the total royalties paid by the mining companies to the state, or 0.2 per cent of the mining companies’ total revenue). The scheme is to facilitate development in mining-affected communities. In each mining community, a local management committee is to administer the scheme.
Despite its potential, the act has not been able to address the multiple challenges of mining communities. The reasons for this are myriad. But enough time has passed for the weaknesses in the system to be identified. It’s time the government took steps to fix these once and for all."

Ghana's mining communities are still not getting their just dues - Toward Freedom
Five changes are needed to legislation designed to allow mining impacted communities in Ghana to flourish.









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