‘Rethink corporate social responsibility’

Mining companies have been advised to actively engage members of their host communities before embarking on corporate social responsibility projects in order to meet the actual needs of the people.

“It is time for players in the mining industry to rethink their corporate social responsibility strategies. They have to live as citizens and stop patronising the communities,” said the Campaign Coordinator of the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), Dr Steve Manteaw.

ISODEC is a non-governmental organisation committed to the promotion of social and economic rights and social justice for, especially, the marginalised in society.

He was speaking yesterday in Accra at the fourth Mining for Development Forum organised by the Ghana Chamber of Mines on the theme, “Rising cost, falling prices: Complications for industry and the state.”

Until recently, Dr Manteaw said community development by mining companies was “cosmetic” as it did not respond to the real needs of the people, mainly because development at the national and local levels had not been the preoccupation of industry players who were more concerned with increasing their revenue.

He said mining companies by providing infrastructure and amenities in their host communities undermined the social contract that should exist between the community and the local government which was expected to meet those provisions.

Dr Manteaw, who is also a development analyst, also observed that Ghana had not reaped its full benefit from the mining industry as a result of government’s failure to define what it expected from operators in the industry.

Falling gold price

On the recent falling prices of gold on the international market, Dr Manteaw said industry players must give Ghanaians a better reason for them to be concerned about the development.

“Industry is complaining about falling gold prices but that cannot be a problem. Even the $1,300 per ounce industry is enjoying is one of the best price levels in the last hundred years,” said Dr Manteaw, who stated that he had studied prices of the past century.

He also called for the development of a fiscal regime that would be sensitive to the changes in the mining industry “so that fees, levies and taxes could be adjusted when there was a boom.”

The Director of Analysis, Research and Finance at the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Mr Sulemanu Koney, said the sudden decline in the price of gold had necessitated a review of mining projects because “this situation had unfortunately led to the discontinuation of some exploration and brownfield projects and rationalisation of inputs, including labour.”

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr Toni Aubynn, said though there had been a positive development in the industry, it appeared the negative perception about it outweighed the positives.

By Emelia Ennin Abbey/Daily Graphic/Ghana