Illegal mining threatens economic growth -- Fiifi Kwetey

Minister of State in charge of Finance and Allied Institution, Mr. Fiifi Kwetey, has said that the current rate of the nation’s economic growth is under threat due to the increasing environmental pollution caused by illegal mining activities and land degradation among others.
 

“The country’s sustainable growth depends on its environment.

“There is need now for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to get people with the heart to fight environmental degradation, but not people who will go hunting for data to inform the public of the negative effects only,” said Mr. Kwetey at the official launch of the 40^th-year anniversary celebration of the EPA in Accra.

 “It is my wish that the 40-years fora will be used to educate the public one the need to protect their environment and the effects of environmental pollution. 

“The external environment is invariably the reflection of our internal environment. Until we fight what is in us, we will not see any change,” he said.

The Minister for Environmental, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Joe Oteng-Agyei disclosed plans to set up EPA offices in all Metropolitan Municipal Districts Assemblies within the next five years to help widen the scope its operations.

The additional offices of the Agency will as well ensure that natural resources of the land are well-protected to create a strong and quality environment.

“Land-degradation, especially the issue of illegal mining, will be best dealt with if EPA offices are all across the length and breadth of the nation,” Dr. Oteng-Agyei said.

He said his outfit in commemorating the 40^th anniversary of EPA will focus on dealing with waste management as well as getting off government subvention in the next two years.

Touching on government’s commitment to fighting land degradation, Dr. Oteng-Agyei highlighted a number of targets.

These include mainstreaming environment and climate change in all sectors of the economy for development, promoting science and technology education, and protecting and improving the environment including the mining sector.

Naa Professor John Nabila, President of the House of Chiefs and also Chairman of the occasion, appealed to the EPA to strengthen its supervisory role in environmental governance to meet the needs and aspirations of the people.

He said the nation cannot continue to receive waste and harmful products from other nations while the EPA appears to be looking on unconcerned.

“Society expects the Agency to do more on waste management to guarantee clean and safe environment for healthy life.”

Professor Nabilla called on the Agency to work toward ensuring efficient waste management and arresting the nuisance of illegal gold mining that is causing excessive environmental degradation and pollution.

He said the EPA needs to reposition itself at the forefront of checking abandoned products from the Americas and Europe with their attendant health implications for citizens.

The Agency has to ensure stiff environmental checks and pursue its supervisory role vigorously to stop the indiscriminate dumping of waste items in the country, Professor Nabila said.

He called on the Agency to develop close linkages with other departments and agencies to ensure issues of the environment are dealt with in a holistic dimension.

Executive Director of EPA, Mr. Daniel Amlalo, said the Agency is striving with many challenges -- but added that urgent steps are being taken to address them.

He said his outfit is stepping up its linkages with the private sector to expand to all districts in the next five years.

Mr. Amlalo observed that for effective environmental governance, the citizenry ought to be disciplined in wast- disposal and pollution as well as get actively involved in curbing the canker.

“We are liaising with the judiciary to reinforce environmental supervision regulations for successful enforcement,” he revealed.

Perseus Mining sponsors 26 students

Perseus Mining Company Limited, a mining firm operating at Ayanfuri in the Central Region, has provided an educational lifeline to about 26 students in both second-cycle and tertiary students within its mining areas. 

The scholarship -- valued at about GH¢17,500 -- has been disbursed to 17 second-cycle students and nine tertiary students as part of its annual corporate social responsibilities to communities within its operating area.

Additionally, the company has also donated about 9,840 books and other learning materials to schools within the communities.

At a presentation ceremony held at Ayanfuri, the Chief Operations Officer of Perseus Mines, Jon Yelland, disclosed that the firm is working in collaboration with some educational institutions in Australia to support schools within the community with some learning materials.

According to him, Perseus Mines has already agreed to bear the cost of shipping the materials to the country, which is estimated to cost GH¢250,000.

Mr. Yelland indicated that in spite of the several operational challenges confronting the mining sector globally, the company remains resolute in fulfilling its promises to the communities within the areas where it operates.

“The firm is already supporting 90 students to undergo vocational and technical training at the Kumasi Technical Institute (KTI) while an additional 76 youth have been trained in four skill areas including Carpentry, Masonry, Plumbing and Electricals,” he added.

The District Chief Executive Officer for Upper Denkyira West, Mr. Ambrose Amoah Ashia, commended the company for improving livelihoods of the people within the communities.

He stated that the most appropriate way to tackle poverty is to improve education amongst the youth, emphasising that the company's effort at improving education in the community is a laudable one.

Civil society unhappy with suspension of windfall tax

Dr. Yao Graham, Coordinator of the Third World Network (TWN), a civil society group, has criticised government over its suspension of windfall profit tax in the mining sector. 

The Finance Ministry confirmed that it has put plans to introduce a windfall tax on mining profits on hold -- although it has been trying to push the tax through since 2012.

Implementing the windfall tax regime would mean mining companies being compelled to pay an extra 10 percent of their profits to government when they make abnormal profits.

Although the move has been welcomed by mining companies as a way of enhancing operations in the sector, Dr. Graham believes there should rather be a policy to ensure the country gets more from the mining sector when gold prices go up.

Dr. Graham said the recent fall in gold prices, which has been used as an excuse to resist plans to implement the windfall tax regime, is only temporary.

He observed that what the mining companies would like is that windfall tax be taken off the books, and that they use the argument of the current low of the relative drop in [gold] prices to lock in a tax policy that allows them to continue to get their “fat cut”.

The suspension of the windfall tax is expected to excite gold firms, but could undermine efforts to reduce the country’s budget deficit.

First tourism office Opens For West Africa

South Africa Tourism, the nation’s tourism promotion agency, has officially opened its first regional office in Lagos, Nigeria, targetted at boosting its African market and reinforcing economic diplomacy with the region.

“Our foreign policy puts Africa in the centre for our continent’s regeneration. South Africa’s diplomacy and bilateral relations are based on the history we share together with other West African countries,” said South African Tourism Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk at the opening ceremony in Lagos.

He said opening of the regional marketing office is an invitation for Nigerians, Ghanaians and other nationals in West Africa to explore the beauty of South Africa.

“This marks an important milestone, but it is exactly that: a milestone along a road we have long been walking with the travel trade of this region. During this time we’ve invested heavily in understanding the needs of the West African traveller, so as to ensure that your holiday experience is as rewarding or memorable to you as it is to us,” said Mr. Van Schalkwyk.

According to him, 73,282 Nigerian tourists visited South Africa in 2012 — an overall 13.8 percent increase from the 64,402 tourists in 2011.

At the end of June 2013, Nigerian arrivals had continued to grow on a strong trajectory of 15.9 percent compared to the same period in 2012.

“Likewise, tourist arrivals from Ghana to South Africa grew a phenomenal 23.8 percent in 2012, when South Africa welcomed 22,953 Ghanaian tourists. Up to end June 2013, arrivals from Ghana were growing at 27.3 percent to 13,663 tourist arrivals for the six- month period. Global interest in visiting Africa is at an all-time high, and it is also our intention to do our bit to convert this interest into increased arrivals across the continent,” the Minister said.

He added: “As a nation, we see the special and longstanding relationship between Nigeria and South Africa as pivotal toward building an Africa that is economically vibrant and resilient.

“Key to creating economic vibrancy and resilience is working together to develop tourism industries that have the potential to contribute meaningfully to gross domestic product and job-creation on the African continent.

“Growth in African arrivals is what shielded our tourism industry from the worst of the recent economic downturn and is what we believe is going to keep our continent’s tourism industry on a sustainable growth path going forward.”

Chief Edem Duke, Nigeria’s Minister for Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, said: “This is a great stride — not only in deepening the bilateral relations but also creating a platform for our citizens to grow. This partnership will be mutually beneficial to stakeholders in both economies.”

Chief Duke called for special treatment for West African travellers due to their cultural differences. “West African travellers should be treated with dignity, respect and special understanding.”

He urged South African authorities to ensure that the generated wealth be spent in Africa to help grow the continent’s economy. “The Nigerian government will give support and remove all encumbrances that stand in the way of the project,” he remarked.

The sorry state of oil-palm growers

Large-scale oil palm growers in the country have threatened to abandon their farms for the cultivation of rubber and other cash crops if government does not end its neglect of the industry.

Growers complain of lacking financial support from government and banks, lack of appropriate pricing for their commodity, no input subsidies or state-sponsored extension services -- all of which combine to deprive them of a decent livelihood from the crop.

“In the oil palm sector, farmers experience very little help from government. There are no extension officers to provide training to any farmer. Nobody tells us what to grow, how to farm, how to get higher productivity or learn new farming and agronomic techniques. We are left alone in the business, unlike farmers of cash crops such as cocoa and rubber,” said Kwame Adentwi, an oil palm farmer in Abekwasi in the Western Region, in an interview with the B&FT.

“If this continues we will convert our farms into the cultivation of rubber, which is more lucrative and can earn us decent livelihoods.”

Oil palm is the fifth-largest crop in Ghana in terms of area planted after cocoa, maize, cassava and yam. Approximately 305,758 hectares of plantation is being cultivated nationwide, with an additional 20,000 hectares needed to meet local demand.

In 2012, oil palm processing groups projected a production output of 260,000 metric tonnes, and a deficit of 35,000 metric tonnes that is met by imports.

More than 80 percent of the crop is grown by private small-scale farmers who mostly use unimproved planting materials, leading to the very low productivity of farms.

Oil palm from Ghana is exported mainly to neighbouring ECOWAS countries and the EU on a small scale. Edible oil palm and palm-based products are also imported into the country in significant quantities.

“We are being cheated always by the big companies who buy the produce from us. There is no regulatory body to speak for us like the cocoa sector. We need financial support in the form of loans for farm maintenance, fertilisers and planting materials,” Mr. Adentwi said.

He spoke to the B&FT during a training programme organised by Solidaridad, a global investor in sustainable agricultural supply chains, to educate oil palm farmers on new farming techniques to increase productivity and profitability.

The programme, the “Sustainable West Africa Palm Oil Project”, assembled oil palm farmers and millers at Twifo Praso in the Western Region.

Three years ago, the government published an oil palm master-plan that set out a strategy to boost production and farmers’ competitiveness, but growers say the words have not been followed by actions.

Current forecasts suggest the ECOWAS market faces an unmet demand of up to one million metric tonnes of the crop.

In Africa, where production was 1.75million metric tonnes in 2009, Nigeria accounts for about half of the output; followed by Côte d’Ivoire with 16 percent; Cameroon and DRC with 10 percent each; and Ghana accounting for 6 percent. Côte d’Ivoire is the only net-exporter of the crop in the region.

Ghana’s first international commercial trade in oil palm took place in 1820. Starting from wild harvesting, oil palm evolved into an agricultural crop and plantations were established by 1850.

In the 1880s, the crop accounted for 75 percent of export revenue until it was overtaken by cocoa in 1911. Global production of oil palm is estimated by the United States Department of Agriculture at 50.28 million metric tonnes in the crop-year ending September 2011. Africa’s share has dropped from about 27 percent in 1980 to 3 percent in 2011.

Indonesia and Malaysia are the top-two growers, accounting for 85 percent of world production.