The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has indicated that it will by the 19th of July, 2017, implement the Multilateral Mining Integrated Project (MMIP) aimed at sanitizing the country’s mining sector.
According to a resource governance index report by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), Ghana ranked 24th out of 81 countries involved in mining in 2016.
This also comes on the back of a drop from its 15th position in 2013 which surveyed 58 countries.
The Deputy Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Benito Owusu Bio explains to Citi Business News the MMIP should among others improve the mining sector by tackling illegalities.
Mr. Owusu Bio who was speaking at the sidelines of the launch of the governance index report further said that the implementation of the multilateral mining integrated project will ensure the efficient use of revenue generated from the mining sector for economic development.
“What the money is being used for Ghanaians cannot actually point out that this is what money from our resources has done and on that point I’ll say that we are at fault,” he stated.
The Deputy Minister added, “It’s important that that we should channel those revenues into concrete structures that one day we can point out to the youth who are growing up that when we had oil, this is what we used the monies for. By this we will ensure the resources are being used well and are being tracked with the public accountability team that we have.”
The Lands and Natural Resources Ministry also believes that the report by the Natural Resource Governance Institute will be used a basis for effective implementation of its Multilateral Mining project.
The 2017 Resource Governance Index which was published in London, surveyed a total of 81 countries involved in oil, gas and mining.
The report aims at assessing policies and practices that authorities employ to govern the said resources in their countries.
Revenue management proved to be the weakest element in governance of Ghana’s mining sector as Ghana performed poorly and ranked 23rd among 33 countries assessments of sub national revenue sharing mechanisms.
However, African Consultant for the Natural Resource Governance Institute, Emmanuel Kuyole said the report should direct policy makers in improving upon the governance of the country’s natural resources to better the livelihoods of the nation’s citizens.
“We believe that this report should guide our policy makers in putting the revenue generated from our resources into good use.”
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
