The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Armah Kofi Buah, has defended the government’s decision to revoke mining licenses issued after December 7, 2024, stating that they were granted without due diligence.
According to him, a comprehensive review conducted by two committees, one comprising security experts, journalists, and other stakeholders, and another made up of mining sector professionals, found significant irregularities in the issuance of these licenses.
“It was very clear that the licenses from December 7 up were done in a rush without due diligence, and in some cases, some of the reports in the interim indicated that some of these communities that are supposed to be impacted were not engaged as required by law”
Armah Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
The minister emphasized that while there were widespread challenges within the small-scale mining sector, the committee recommended a complete revocation of the licenses issued during that period.
However, following further deliberations, the government decided to establish a technical team to review and validate the existing licenses rather than outrightly canceling them.
“We also thought it was important that, even though the overall small-scale mining sector is fraught with so many problems, we still needed to set up a technical team, and that’s why today we did that, to basically review and validate all those existing licenses”
Armah Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
Beyond the issue of rushed approvals, the minister pointed out multiple violations committed by some license holders, including failure to renew environmental permits and breaches of mining boundaries.
“Multiple licenses have been given to people who have not even bothered to follow up on renewals, follow up on their EPA renewals.
“Some of them are completely violating the rules in terms of mining beyond the boundaries that they’ve been given, destroying water bodies. The whole process and the guidelines they’ve been given, complete violations”
Armah Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
Enforcing Compliance
The minister stressed that Ghana is currently facing an “uphill battle” against illegal mining, deforestation, and water pollution.
He insisted that license holders must be held accountable to ensure that their activities do not worsen the country’s environmental crisis.
“As we go forward, remember, we are dealing with all these multiple challenges with illegal mining activities in our forests, the destruction of our water bodies.
“And we are confronted with this fight to make sure we do reforestation in degraded lands and bring back our waters from brown to blue”
Armah Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
According to him, this new phase of regulation presents an opportunity to clean up the mining licensing process and enforce discipline in the sector.
“We need to really sanitize the licensing regime and make sure that those who have licenses are also playing by the rules. And it’s very clear that that is not happening”
Armah Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
The government’s approach, he noted, will not only focus on reviewing and validating licenses but will also include corrective measures such as penalties and ratification processes for those found in violation of regulations.
“There will be opportunities for ratification, there will be opportunities for corrections, there will be opportunities for penalties being paid”
Armah Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
Land Reclamation
One of the major concerns raised by the minister is the financial burden of land reclamation, which has fallen on the government despite the fact that “mining companies are responsible for restoring the environment after their operations.”
He argued that a struggling government should not be forced to finance the reclamation of lands destroyed by private businesses.
“We are struggling today in Parliament. They are asking me how much money I’ve received to go and do reclamation.
“Should it be the responsibility of a government that is already struggling with money to go and find money to reclaim damaged places where businessmen have made money and left?”
Armah Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
As part of efforts to shift this responsibility back to the mining companies, the minister announced a recategorization process that will ensure that even medium-scale miners provide financial security for environmental restoration.
“Large-scale mining companies are required to post bonds, okay? And those bonds, they also get insurance.
“And you know what? If they finish, and the inspection is done and they have not met the requirement, those bonds are going to be used to really do the reclamation and all the things they failed to do”
Armah Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
The minister hinted that the government is moving toward a policy where small and medium-scale mining companies will also be held financially accountable for reclamation efforts.
“We are moving to a place where this recategorization will now allow us, for example, for those in this category of medium-scale miners, to basically require some responsibility.
“We are getting to that point where we are going to hold the small-scale mining companies accountable to make sure that they also take responsibility for everything that goes wrong”
Armah Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
Holding Mining Companies Accountable
According to the minister, several small-scale mining companies have abandoned sites without fulfilling their reclamation obligations, leaving the government to deal with the environmental damage.
He stressed that the new process will compel these companies to restore mined-out lands before moving to new concessions.
“As we speak, visit districts where small-scale mining has taken place. I’m not even talking about illegal mining, just legal small-scale mining.
“Some of them have really done the work, left for other places, and they’ve not done the reclamation”
Armah Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
He maintained that the government’s review process will ensure that miners correct these violations before being allowed to continue operations.
“Exactly what are we doing to get them to go back and fix the mess before they move to the next one? This process allows us to get them to do that as well”
Armah Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
The government’s decision to revoke and review mining licenses is expected to bring much-needed order to the sector.
However, it remains to be seen whether these measures as explained by the minister will effectively address the environmental degradation caused by irresponsible mining practices.
READ MORE: TCDA Spearheads Ghana’s Coconut Industry Through Value Addition and Sustainability
