Miss Joyce Aryee, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, has appealed to members of the National House of Chiefs to collaborate with the Chamber to use mining to promote rapid socio-economic development of the country.She said the Chamber had embarked on advocacy programmes to ensure that mining benefited Ghanaians, especially those living in host communities and appealed to chiefs to support the Chamber to achieve that objective.
Miss Aryee made the appeal at a meeting with members of the National House of Chiefs in Kumasi on Friday.
She mentioned some of the advocacy programmes as getting the Government to increase royalties paid to host communities and the provision of specific infrastructure and industries in mining communities.
There should also be a deliberate attempt by the Government to attract investment in secondary industries to mining communities and to revive traditional gold refining and produce jewelleries as a way of generating employment.
Miss Aryee said the Chamber was embarking on a training programme for local goldsmiths in the country to improve upon their output.
She said the Chamber was also advocating increased and appropriate compensation for crops destroyed during mining activities and a model housing scheme and real estate designs for resettled communities.
Miss Aryee said all these should be incorporated in the mining lease packages before concessions were granted.
She explained that, the Chamber believed that, if mining were used properly it could make a difference in the country’s development.
She appealed to chiefs in mining communities not to promote illegal mining activities since they destroyed the environment.
Miss Aryee expressed concern about the degeneration of the moral values and norms in the country and appealed to members of the House to use their influence to help to curb the situation.
She appealed to them to declare 2007 the year of moral rejuvenation to help to revive good morals in the Ghanaian society.
GNA
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