LEG sensitizes Kenyasi residents on Mineral Development Fund

The Livelihood and Environment Ghana (LEG), a non-profit-making organization based in Sunyani, has organized community sensitization programmes in the Asutifi North district of the Ahafo region on the utilization of the Mineral Development Fund (MDF).

The MDF was established by Act 912 passed by Parliament in March 2016 to provide a more reliant and predictable source of funding development initiatives in mining communities.

The mandate of the Fund is to provide “financial resources for the direct benefit of mining communities, a holder of an interest in land within mining communities, a traditional and local government authority within mining communities and an institution responsible for the development of mining in Ghana.

Massive attendance
Organized by LEG with funding by STAR-Ghana, hundreds of residents of Kenyasi attended the two events held at the old durbar grounds and the Habitat Road.

The program primarily sought to promote transparency in the utilization of mining revenue in the Asutifi North District, which is one of the mining areas of the country.

Baseline survey
Prior to the sensitization programmes, Community Volunteers conducted a baseline survey on the utilization of Mineral Development Fund by the Asutifi North District Assembly.

The programmes therefore afforded the opportunity to share the outcomes of the survey with the chiefs and people of the area.

In PowerPoint presentations, Ms. Hawa Alhassan, Alex Badu, Eric Okor and Tweneboah Kodua took turns explaining the findings of the baseline survey to the people.

The community members commended the volunteers for their hard work and their resolve to keep them updated about the utilization of mineral revenue accruing to the Asutifi North District Assembly.

They recommended that going forward, local contractors should be given most of the projects under MDF to execute.

Projects distribution
They wondered why only one project has been executed at Kenyasi Number Two through the fund while Kenyasi Number One has benefited from about 13 projects.

“Even with the only project at Kenyasi Number Two, it’s a water project serving both K.1 and K.2 so in effect, K.2 does not have any project on its own so far as the MDF is concerned,” they said.

Speaking to the media after the programme, the Programmes Officer of LEG, Miss Peace Japah Nyande, observed that even though the assembly appears to have undertaken some projects through the MDF, no effort is made to share information about the projects with the people, hence the perception that nothing is being done with the fund.

She advised that the assembly should emboss the Mineral Development Fund (MDF) on all projects executed with the fund, going forward.

LEG is registered as a national research and advocacy not-for-profit and non-governmental organization operating in 46 communities in seven administrative regions of Ghana namely, Bono, Ahafo, Western, Ashanti, Central, Eastern and Western North.

It seeks to promote environmental sustainability, community rights, sustainable livelihood, active citizenship and mineral governance and engages with policy makers, duty bearers and corporate organizations on issues around mineral governance and mineral policies, among others.