THE Co-chair of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), Dr Steve Manteaw, has urged the government not to revoke the mining lease of Northern Ashanti Mines solely over outstanding statutory payments, but rather negotiate a payment arrangement with the company.
He said keeping the mining business operational should be in the interest of regulators, as it would enable the company to generate revenue and settle its outstanding obligations.
“I don’t think indebtedness constitutes enough grounds for the revocation of a licence. It does not. But if there are serious technical breaches, then we can talk about revocation. But if somebody owes you, you sit down and negotiate for the payments,” he said.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story, monitored by the Ghanaian Times, Dr Manteaw was responding to the Minerals Commission’s claim that Northern Ashanti Mines owed more than US$8.38 million in statutory fees.
He called on the government to adopt a less confrontational approach to resolving the dispute, particularly as it pursued efforts to increase Ghanaian participation in the mining industry.
“And it should be in your interest that that business exists and thrives in order to pay what it owes you,” he said.
Dr Manteaw also expressed concern about the handling of the dispute, saying it appeared to lend support to allegations that Ghanaian-owned mining companies were being unfairly targeted.
He warned that revoking mining leases and shutting down local mining businesses over financial difficulties could undermine the government’s policy of placing Ghanaians at the centre of the country’s mineral industry.
“A Ghanaian mining company may have a problem, but once you want to localize our mining industry, you don’t revoke leases and close them down by act. You identify the challenges we are going through and help them to overcome the challenges,” he said. Read More
- BY BENJAMIN ARCTON TETTEY
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