The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor, has tasked the Minerals Development Fund (MDF) Secretariat to undertake a number of development project in mining communities across the country.
He made this disclosure during his engagement with Management and Staff of the Fund where he was extensively briefed on the 2023 action plans of the fund for the year, 2023.
According to him, the plan contains project in the areas of health, education, Alternative livelihood empowerment and general infrastructure.
Mr Jinapor touted the action plan of the MDF for 2023 as lofty and ambitious, one that can only be achieved through a concerted and collaborative efforts between Agency and the Ministry.
In an interaction with the Media after the meeting, Hon. Jinapor spoke glowingly of the achievements of MDF so far under the Akufo-Addo administration. He noted that MDF holds a key spot and it’s consequential in government’s plans to create a sustainable and environmentally-friendly mining sector.
The lands minister highlighted that MDF’s core responsibility of promoting the welfare of mining communities in the country is important for the country. He observed that MDF was created to ensure that the gap between mining communities and development is bridged to allow for a serene and incident-free environment for the mining industry to thrive.
“The action plan is such that they are going to roll out a lot more projects in the mining communities. It is absolutely important that we carry indigenous mining communities with us because without them, we will not have the needed stability to construct the mining industry we so wish.
“The Ministry is grateful for the work done so far and we want to commend the management and staff of the fund for doing an excellent work.”
Samuel Jinapor
Achieving objective for Mineral Development Fund
On his part, Dr. Norris Hammah, the Administrator for the MDF stated that his outfit is grateful to the Ministry for the support it has been receiving and were willing to team up with Ministry to achieve it’s set objectives for the 2023 calendar year and beyond.
He further stated that the MDF is mandated by law to provide financial assistance in various ways to mining communities and will ensure that the fund execute its mandate to the satisfaction of the residents in all mining communities.
It will be recalled that last year, the Minerals Development Fund (MDF) Secretariat disbursed more than GHC500 million to beneficiaries of the fund since 2017. The funds were mainly channeled into development projects in the educational, health, water and sanitation, agricultural and other sectors in mining communities.
The Administrator of the MDF, Dr Norris Hammah, explained that the GHC30 million had been disbursed to carry out eight infrastructural projects at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) and the Department of Earth Science at the University of Ghana.
Additionally, he stated that part of the funds had been invested in alternative livelihood projects to help curb the illegal mining menace that the country was grappling with.
Despite the modest gains, he noted that the MDF, which was set up by the Minerals Development Fund Act, had teething challenges that made it difficult to consolidate the gains made.
The MDF was established by the Minerals Development Fund Act, 2016 (Act 912) to provide financial resources for the direct benefit of mining communities, institutions responsible for the development of the mining sector, traditional and local government authorities and related matters.
The fund comprises 20 per cent of mineral royalties paid by mining companies to the state under section 31(1) of the Mineral Income Investment Fund Act, 2018 (Act 978), grants, donations, returns on investments and gifts approved by Parliament.
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