Traditional Rulers do not own lands, Mrs. Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, the Executive Director of WACAM, an anti-mining advocacy non-governmental organisation said on Wednesday.

According to Mrs. Owusu-Koranteng, the 1992 constitution mandates traditional rulers to serve as caretakers who hold the land in trust for the people.

Mrs. Owusu-Koranteng said this at a workshop on development of a sample mining bill and review of the Minerals and Mining Act 2006, Act 703, at Abesim, near Sunyani.

Organised by WACAM, the workshop was attended by Journalists and media practitioners drawn from Ashanti, Greater Accra, Eastern and Brong-Ahafo Regions.

It offered the participants opportunity to influence reforms in addressing the limitations in the mining law by contributing towards the development of the sample Mining Bill.

The Bill is being developed by WACAM in collaboration with the Center for Public Interest Law with support from IBIS, Care Ghana and Ford Foundation, all NGOs.

Mrs. Owusu-Koranteng emphasised that a traditional ruler who releases or sells land, especially for commercial purposes without the approval of the local people breaches the 1992 constitution.

She noted with regret illegal and indiscriminate selling and release of lands, particularly for commercial mining by some chiefs, had rendered most of the local communities vulnerable.

“However, the poorest and most vulnerable in many cases including indigenous communities are often excluded from the benefits that might be generated by the mine,” she said.

Mrs. Owusu-Koranteng was unhappy that discussion on mining had been around revenues with little mention of environmental pollution, human rights abuses and potential loss of livelihoods associated with the mineral exploitation.