Minerals Concessions Audit Committee Tasked To Sanitise Mining Sector

The Minerals Concessions Audit Committee has been charged by the government to ensure that the country’s mining sector is protected against activities that potentially destroy Ghana’s mineral resources.

The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, George Mireku Duker, threw this challenge when inaugurated the Committee on Wednesday, October 27, in Accra.

Mr Mireku Duker explained to the Members of the Committee, they have been vested with the powers to protect the integrity of the mining sector, and safeguard the country’s natural resources from activities that endanger them.

The deputy minister also charged the committee to make sure that they address the issue of disparity regarding mining concessions, where some ‘unfair’ number of concessions compared to others in the same sector.

“You have situations where one person has 50 concessions, another has 100. We believe it is not fair because we may not have a situation where land will be extended. It is important to know the people who own these concessions and how to handle them,” he said.

Mr Mireku Duker, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tarkwa Nsuaem stated that the committee has the trust and blessings of the sector minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor to perform its oversight responsibilities to satisfaction.

He remarked that with the experiences of the Chairperson of the committee, as well as the members, he was confident that they would succeed.

For his part, the Chairman of the committee, Mr Tutu Agyare, welcomed with excitement the task handed them and assured of their commitment in sanitising the mining sector as charged by the Ministry.

He underscored that with the sector undergoing various transformational policies, it was important that the committee would be seen to be working effectively, and pledged that they would perform creditably.

The five-member committee, chaired by Mr Tutu Agyare, also has Rosenberg Owusu Donkoh, Ales Oppong, Kofi Adomako Ansah and Michael Atiboly as members, with Madam Suweibatu Adam, as Secretary.

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