The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Committee on Mining has reiterated its commitment to empowering local miners to practice responsible mining to curb environmental degradation.

The committee, led by Dr. Tony Aubyn, made this pledge during a campaign tour of Obuasi's mining communities as part of the NDC's campaign activities. They promised to establish a special mining fund to support the cooperative mining initiatives they plan to introduce if elected.

This approach, they believe, will address what they describe as a failed community mining project, which illegal miners have overrun.

With 25 days until the December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections, the NDC is pledging to create a special mining fund under its Gold Board project to sponsor small-scale mining activities and promote responsible mining.

With this fund, Chinese nationals will not have any role in the government-initiated community mining scheme, which local miners claim has been dominated by Chinese miners due to a lack of support for local stakeholders.

Addressing voters in the Obuasi mining areas, Eng. Ebenezer Aidoo highlighted the party's policies for the mining sector, urging miners to practice responsible mining.

"In our manifesto, we have committed to creating a fund to sponsor the operation of community mining, which will be transformed into cooperative mining activities. We have noticed that the Chinese have taken over because they sponsor community mining operations. This fund will equip miners with mining equipment, skills, and technical expertise to work responsibly. They will refund this money to the government while earning profits from the project," he explained.

Touching on health and safety in mining, Ebenezer Aidoo encouraged miners to adopt best practices to protect the environment for future generations.

"Mining must benefit everyone in the mining community, including our children, wives, mothers, and future generations. But if, in ten or twenty years, we destroy everything, it means we are not thinking about the next generation. John Dramani Mahama has a succession plan, so help him to implement it for you and future generations by electing him into office," he appealed to the miners.

The mining engineer added, "As technical experts in the sector, we have taken notice of your mining practices and will incorporate these observations into our technical report to reshape the sector for your safety going forward," he noted.

Samuel Hadjor, a member of the NDC's national mining committee, reiterated the NDC's commitment to replacing the current Community Mining Project with a new scheme known as Cooperative Mining, which the government will fund. He questioned why Chinese nationals should be involved in a community mining scheme meant for local communities.

"This government introduced community mining for locals, but our campaign in mining sites has revealed different issues with the project based on information from local artisanal miners. We observe that it is actually the Chinese who are operating in these community mining sites instead of the locals. This cannot be a community mining project established for Ghanaians. Why should a Chinese national head a local community mining project?" he questioned.

He added, "We are coming to change this narrative. Community mining was not established for foreigners, particularly the Chinese. When the NDC comes into office, we will change the setup and introduce cooperative mining, which will be owned and managed by locals, with government support through the Gold Board," he reiterated.

Speaking to our news team after the campaign tour in Obuasi and surrounding areas, Hadjor expressed confidence that the NDC will win the 2024 election.

He observed that the enthusiastic response from the mining communities indicates that miners are equally disillusioned with the current government and desire change.

"So far, all the mining sites we have visited have given me the confidence and assurance that the NDC and Former President John Dramani Mahama will win the election. In the mining areas, the warm reception we are receiving shows that miners and mining community residents are ready to give us their votes. Initially, we feared that miners might not give us the opportunity to campaign on their sites, but that hasn't been the case.

"They welcome us warmly, sharing their concerns and reasons why they want the NDC back to transform the mining sector. I just want to emphasize that the NDC is not coming to collapse the small-scale mining sector. As you see, we are campaigning with mining experts, listening to concerns, and monitoring activities. We have observed much and will support miners in ways that align with both their and the government's interests," he assured.