The Center for Democratic Development-Ghana (CDD-Ghana) has called for an increase in the mineral royalties allocated to mining districts to address the development gap in these communities.
Despite Ghana’s rich resource history, mining communities remain underdeveloped.
Emmanuel Yeboah, a research analyst with CDD-Ghana, highlighted the inadequacy of the current percentage of mineral royalties allocated to these communities.
He pointed out that only 20% of the funds are transferred into a designated Mineral Development Fund account for the districts, with just 10% reaching the Assembly and the other 10% going to the Office of the Stool Lands. This, combined with late disbursements, severely hampers meaningful development.
At a stakeholder meeting in Obuasi, where CDD-Ghana revealed its report on the Mining District Development Scorecard (MDDS), Yeboah appealed to the government, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, the Minerals Commission, the Ghana Revenue Authority, and other key stakeholders to consider increasing the royalties to bridge the development gap.
Obuasi Municipal ranked 6th in the latest 2023 MDDS league table with a score of 35.4 out of 100 points, below the overall MDDS score of 38.4 points. This indicates weak governance practices in the management and utilization of mineral royalties in the Municipality.
The MDDS, supported by the Ford Foundation, aims to promote transparency, accountability, and improved social and human development outcomes in mining districts.
Obuasi’s performance was only better than Asutifi North District and Prestea-Huni Valley Municipal. The district scored poorly in local management committee effectiveness and mineral development fund utilization efficiency.
Across the five major components of the MDDS, Obuasi scored an average of ‘very good’ in ten out of twelve subcomponents assessed using administrative data.
CDD-Ghana’s research also identified weak fiscal transparency as a significant challenge for the Assembly and the local mining committee. Dr. Amina Achiaa Asiedu Amoah, chairperson of the Local Mining Committee of the Obuasi Municipality, assured that the committee will intensify awareness efforts to inform the public about their activities.
She also supported the call for increased mineral royalties to accelerate development and finance public outreach programs.
Ali Tanti Robert, Executive Director of the Center for Social Impact Studies (CESIS), urged the Obuasi Municipal Assembly to enhance public engagement campaigns to provide accountability on the utilization of mineral royalties.
