Akrofuom Assembly to leverage mining potentials to maximize revenue

The Chief Executive of the Akrofuom District Dr. Maurice Jonas Woode has said that the Assembly has put in place measures to safeguard the operations of large and small scale mining in the district.

Speaking to the media after a general assembly meeting held on Wednesday, 19th June, 2024, Dr. Woode said the quest to protect legal mining activities in the district is an attempt by the Assembly to leverage mining to speed up economic growth.

He said though the Assembly is on course to achieve its revenue target for the year, it is important for the Assembly not to lower its guards but work hard to rake in more revenue from other sources.

"Our budget for the year was gh 1,221,650.00 but at the end of the first quarter we had gh 329,138.07 representing 26.94%. This means we are on course to meet our target but we are working to get more revenue from other sources including mining," he stated.

Meanwhile, Asante Gold Corporation is set to start underground mining at the Kubi Gold project in the Akrofuom district. Dr. Maurice Jonas Woode has pledged his support for the company to succeed believing that, that will help the Assembly get more revenue to facilitate economic growth.

Again, the Akrofuom DCE hinted at the Assembly's resolve to help small scale miners in the district with documentation to validate their operations.

While recognizing the fact that the mining sector will be playing a tremendous role in the growth of the economy of the district, the Akrofuom district assembly is still focused on investing in agriculture which has been the mainstay of the people.

This according to the DCE is to guard against Dutch disease from affecting the economy of the district.

The Dutch disease, also known as the “resource curse”, is a term coined in 1977 to explain the sharp decline in the Dutch economy following the discovery of natural gas reserves in The Netherlands in 1959.

According to Dr. Woode the Assembly has collaborated with the Ghana Productive Safety Net Project (GPSNP) to grow more trees to reclaim already degraded lands affected by mining. This he said, is one of the ways to boost farming activities in the area.

He said in a bid to promote agriculture, the Akrofuom district assembly has instituted bylaws to deal with farmers who trade their lands for illegal activities. "These coupled with other measures are what we have put in place to deal with any potential resource curse," he emphasised.