Mahama calls for CSR guidelines in minerals sector

President John Mahama has called for the establishment of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) guidelines to define parameters for carrying out such activities in the mining industry. 

 

“We must establish guidelines for corporate social responsibility, so it really takes care of the critical needs and not something that is just done to be printed in brochures,” he said at a seminar on “Ghana’s Experience in the Management of Minerals Resources for Sustainable Development” organised as part of activities for the state visit of the Guinean President, Alpha Condé.

“Today, the philosophy of corporate social responsibility has caught on, and many mining companies realise that you cannot live in isolation from the communities that surround you; and so we are seeing developments in which mining and other extractive industries are investing in the communities around them,” the President said.

But he added that CSR should not be mere populism, but tailored to the development needs of communities.

In recent years, concerns about the sustainability and social responsibility of businesses have gained currency in many countries and industries, including Ghana, and more so in the mining industry.

For mining, one outcome of the CSR agenda is the increasing need for individual companies to justify their existence and document their performance through the disclosure of social and environmental information.

The Minerals Commission, the minerals and mining sector regulator, is currently spearheading the development of a national framework to define guidelines for CSR programmes in the industry.

The guidelines are currently at the draft stage and are drawn on policies, codes and principles issued by the industry, government, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations.

The new rules are expected to serve mining companies, the government, local communities, stakeholders, and other groups with interest in or who are affected by mining activities.

According to President Mahama, “Africa must exert more control over its natural resources and its resources must benefit the people of the economies that own them”. 

He added: “It is a mutual partnership that will allow foreign investors to bring in capital; but it must be a partnership that benefits both the investor and the local communities which own the resources”.

President Conde said although Guinea has been endowed with natural resources, it has not gained much from the resources as a country.

He said the country has reviewed its mining code to include very important aspects such as transparency, which the mining companies are not happy about.

“For example, all who mine bauxite should give 50 percent to the state as dividend and any mining company seen to be corrupt will have its licence revoked, while communities where natural resources were mined have to benefit from them.

“Mining companies also have to employ locals and people from the region where mining is taking place so they can benefit,” President Conde said.