Obuasi, Jan 15, GNA - A three-day community-based training workshop on making mineral revenue work for poor mining communities has been opened at Obuasi for the Ashanti Regional Mining Enclave. The workshop, which is on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), is being organised by the National Coalition of the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) campaign with sponsorship from GTZ and OSIWA.

Some 60 participants are attending it from Ghana, Sierra Leone and Mongolia.

EITI is a government-led initiative that seeks to open up the extractive sector to public scrutiny and ensure that dividends from the sector are publicly accounted for and distributed in an equitable manner.

Nana Adu Ampoti Dwaah II, Krontihene of Bodwesango who opened the workshop, said transparency relating to the extractive industry had always been ignored.

This was because the people of Adansi, who are owners of the land, had always not been consulted whenever the Obuasi mine was changing hands.

Nana Ampoti Dwaah questioned the quantum of mineral revenue that was paid to the poor mining communities in the country. He appealed to the government to increase the share of the mineral revenue to the beneficiary communities "so as to make mineral revenue actually work for the poor".

Mr Richard Ellimah, the Ashanti Regional Focal Person on EITI, said issues of transparency had become critical in today's globalised world.

He said focus was now not on the quantum of money multinational companies made out of their mining operations but "on who spent the money, how the money was spent and on what the money was spent". Mr Ellimah said in some cases mineral royalties paid to district assemblies were used for recurrent expenditure to the neglect of the development of the mining communities who suffered directly from the activities of the mining companies. He said assemblies that use their royalties for development also neglect most of the mining communities.

He cited the Obuasi Municipal Assembly as an example where only Anyinam and Boete communities would benefit from the mineral royalties this year with communities like Sanso, Nhyieso, Dokyiwa and Binsere not considered.

Dr Steve Manteaw, the National Co-ordinator of PWYP, said EITI was not an end in itself and that there was the need to push the frontiers to incorporate into it all other extractives as well as transparency concerns presently not captured in the reporting templates. 15 Jan 07