Make minerals fund beneficial to mining communities - Jinapor

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has asked managers of the Minerals Development Fund (MDF) to judiciously utilise resources accruing to the fund for the benefit of mining communities.

He said the mandate of MDF was crucial and consequential to the government's quest to make mining beneficial to citizens.

"Failure to live up to your mandate of providing for the welfare of residents of mining communities have dire consequences as it can lead to upheavals, as evidenced from other mining countries in Africa," the minister added.

The MDF was set up to provide development projects in mining communities that have been negatively impacted by mining activities.

It derives its funds from 20 per cent of mineral royalty received from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), holders of mining leases, money approved by Parliament for the fund, grants, donations, gifts, as well as money that accrues to the fund from investments made by the MDF Board.

Visit

Mr Jinapor, who paid a working visit to the MDF office in Accra yesterday, said although the administrators had done well in terms of providing infrastructure in mining communities, more work needed to be done.

For instance, he said, given the negative impact of illegal mining activities on residents of mining communities, it was important for the MDF to provide alternative livelihoods to the people.

According to the minister, provision of sustainable alternative livelihoods was important since it would help address illegal mining activities.

MDF investments

In March, last year, the Administrator of the MDF, Dr Norris Hammah, told the Daily Graphic that the Fund's Secretariat had disbursed over GH¢500m to beneficiaries since 2017.

He said the funds were mainly channelled into education, health, water and sanitation, agriculture and other sectors at mining communities.

According to Dr Hammah, the fund was set up by the Minerals Development Fund Act, 2016 (Act 912) to provide financial resources for the direct benefit of mining communities, institutions responsible for the development of the mining sector, as well as traditional and local government authorities.

He, however, said some teething challenges had made it difficult to consolidate the gains made, adding that out of all the revenue streams provided under Act 912, the 20 per cent mineral royalties had been the only regular source of inflow into the fund.

Dr Hammah also said that the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Act, 2017 (Act 947), which capped the only revenue source to the fund had drastically reduced the flow of funds, thus making it difficult to execute development projects.

He, however, told the visiting minister that his outfit had put in place a strategic plan to make its impact felt more in mining communities this year.

While commending the minister for ensuring that the MDF got a permanent secretariat, he also appealed for more support to help his outfit deliver on its mandate.