Accra, Jan. 18, GNA - Mrs Rita Tani Iddi, Deputy Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines (MLFM), on Thursday called on stakeholders in the diamond industry to ensure strict compliance with directives on the sale and purchase of diamonds.

She said it was currently an offence for a non-registered or non-licensed individual or company to trade in diamonds. Mrs Iddi, who made the call at a Joint Taskforce workshop on Ghana's compliance to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in Accra, said Ghana could attain full certification to export her own diamonds if the specifications set under the scheme were met. Ghana was accused by the United Nations of weakness in its internal controls in the implementation of the KPCS, leading to an alleged possibility of the smuggling of diamonds from rebel-held areas in Cote d'Ivoire through Ghana to international markets.

She said due to the allegations, Ghana was suspended from exporting rough diamonds from November 24 2006 to December 5, 2006 to ensure that the proper control measures were put in place. Mrs Iddi explained that the international certification scheme was a form of measure to help Ghana to remove the weaknesses and strengthen internal controls to prevent the usage of Ghana as a conduit for diamonds from rebels.

She said Ghana was given three months; from December to February 2007, to ensure full compliance to the scheme and the institution of the Joint Taskforce was a step towards that direction.

The Joint Taskforce would serve as an oversight committee to ensure compliance to the KPCS in Ghana, through ensuring strict monitoring at every checkpoint; ensuring regular audit of the PMMC records as well as those of other producers and further ensure the effective enforcement of existing legislation on the scheme.

The nine-member Joint Taskforce is made up of representatives from the MLFM; Precious Mineral Marketing Company (PMMC); Ghana Consolidated Diamonds (GCD) Limited; Minerals Commission (MC); Geological Survey Department; Ministry of The Interior; Ghana Immigration Service and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS).

As part of the process, Mrs Iddi said the Ministry had organised various stakeholders meetings where KPCS experts from South Africa as well as European Commission officials were present for both discussions and to offer technical assistance.

Mrs Iddi said efforts including educational seminars were being organised to sensitise miners, traditional authorities, security agencies as well as community leaders in the mining communities on the importance of ensuring compliance to the Scheme.

She stated that the PMMC, to ensure proper documentation of all diamond buyers at Akwatia, had carried out a massive registration and licensing exercise and issued them with identity cards with unique numbers.

"At the moment we have registered about 444 actors in the industry in Akwatia with unique identity numbers and efforts to sustain the process as well as ensure its renewals which are still on going," she said.

Mrs Iddi noted that the registration of miners, the compilation of production figures by the Minerals Commission and the GCD as well as staff training by the PMMC were all efforts geared towards the achievement of the compliance scheme.

Mr George Asante, Deputy Managing Director of PMMC, said Ghana was given three months to ensure full compliance of the KPCS. He stated that it was a requirement that the content of all shipments of rough diamonds be digitally photographed by Ghanaian authorities and examined prior to export by an independent expert to advice on its origin.

Mr Asante said the World Diamond Council (WDC) has provided experts, who would be in the country for a week's inspection for the three-month period that Ghana was given under the scheme.