NGO says royalties due assemblies should be made known

Tarkwa, May 8, GNA - Dr. Stephen Manteaw, Campaigns Coordinator of Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), has said district assemblies have responsibility for the development of districts but most districts endowed with natural resources do not know how their royalties are computed at the national level.

He said ISODEC would help the assemblies to know the formula of working out royalties that should be sent to the districts.

“This will help address the problem of the misuse of royalties,” he said and questioned why royalties should be transferred in trunches.

He was speaking at a one-day workshop on “Capacity Building on Budgeting and Tracking of Mineral Revenues” and was organised by ISODEC and sponsored by KASA Ghana, a donor organization.

Mr. Bishop Akolgo, Executive Director of ISODEC, expressed regret that after more than 30 years of mining there had not been improvement in the standard of living of mining communities.

Mr. Akolgo said it was the task of the assemblies to build an economy that would stand the test of time.

“Assemblies and mining companies should come out with a harmonized work plan that will benefit the local economy and the nation as a whole.”

Some of the participants attributed the poor state of Ghana's economy even in the midst of rich natural resources to bad policies, political instability and mismanagement.

GNA