- Mining Communities Demand Bigger Voice as Ghana Overhauls Mineral Governance
Pressure is mounting on Ghana to give mining-affected communities a greater say in how mineral resources are managed, as the government moves to overhaul the country’s two-decade-old mining law and reconsider how the benefits of extraction are shared with communities that bear its environmental and social costs.
ActionAid Ghana has joined calls for stronger community participation, urging the government to operationalise District Mining Committees as effective mechanisms through which people living in mining areas can influence decisions affecting land, livelihoods, water resources and the environment.
John Nkaw, Country Director of ActionAid Ghana, made the call during the launch of the Uplifting the Voices of Mining Communities, or VOICES, project in Kumasi, arguing that host communities should be treated as active participants in mineral governance rather than simply beneficiaries of decisions taken elsewhere.
The intervention comes as the government prepares one of the most significant changes to Ghana’s mining regulatory architecture in two decades.
Cabinet has endorsed a revised Minerals and Mining Bill for transmission to Parliament, replacing key elements of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006, Act 703. Under the proposed framework, District Mining Committees would become an entry point in the licensing process, while mining leases would carry mandatory community development agreements.
That potentially moves community participation closer to the beginning of the mining cycle rather than limiting engagement to compensation, environmental disputes or development commitments after concessions have already been granted.
For ActionAid, that distinction is critical.
Mining remains one of Ghana’s most important sources of foreign exchange, public revenue and employment, but communities in extraction areas continue to raise concerns over land degradation, polluted water bodies, displacement, disrupted livelihoods and limited influence over decisions affecting local resources.
The VOICES project is intended to strengthen the capacity of communities to document those impacts and engage regulators, local authorities and mining companies using evidence generated at the local level.
The 24-month initiative, funded by Comic Relief, will operate in Mfantseman, Ahafo Ano South, Asutifi North and Talensi. Ghana has been allocated £120,000 from the wider £450,000 programme, which also covers activities in Malawi and Senegal.
ActionAid plans to train 80 women and youth representatives in extractive-sector governance, climate-resilient livelihoods, advocacy and campaigning, while four community-based monitoring committees will be established or strengthened.
The programme also targets 32 quarterly monitoring exercises, two participatory research studies, eight community sensitisation forums, four validation and dissemination workshops and at least 12 community-led advocacy initiatives. It aims to influence at least three policy or administrative actions during its implementation period.
The push for stronger local participation is converging with a wider debate over how much mineral wealth should remain in the areas where extraction takes place.
The Ghana Chamber of Mines has called for at least 30% of mineral royalty receipts to be directed to host communities, arguing that mining areas need more visible investment in infrastructure, education, healthcare, livelihood development and environmental management.
The proposal has also received support from Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi II, President of the National House of Chiefs, who has argued that communities hosting mining operations should experience tangible improvements in living standards from the mineral wealth extracted from their lands.
The debate is becoming more significant as the sector’s fiscal contribution expands.
Mining and quarrying generated GH¢24.22 billion in fiscal revenue in 2025, up 10.61% from GH¢21.90 billion a year earlier, according to the Chamber of Mines.
Taxes attributable to the sector rose to GH¢23.11 billion, while mineral royalty receipts increased from GH¢4.90 billion to GH¢5.41 billion. Dividends paid to the state reached GH¢1.11 billion, and the sector accounted for 27.65% of direct domestic tax revenue mobilised by the Ghana Revenue Authority.
Mineral export receipts also climbed sharply, increasing 77.99% to US$21.36 billion in 2025 and representing more than two-thirds of Ghana’s merchandise export earnings, according to industry figures.
Those numbers strengthen the argument that the discussion around mining can no longer focus exclusively on production and national revenue.
The more difficult question is how the economic value generated by extraction is distributed between the state, investors, workers, local businesses and the communities where mining takes place.
Government says the proposed legislation will strengthen local content, domestic value addition and community participation while introducing a new medium-scale mining category and changing licensing arrangements. Mining leases would also be capped at 20 years under the revised framework.
But formal participation structures will only matter if they influence real decisions.
District Mining Committees would need access to technical information, adequate resources and clearly defined responsibilities if they are to provide meaningful scrutiny rather than merely adding another administrative step to the licensing process.
Their effectiveness will depend on whether commitments are specific, measurable and enforceable, and whether host communities have sufficient representation in determining which projects and economic opportunities should be prioritised.
ActionAid’s intervention therefore extends beyond calls for consultation.
Its broader argument is that communities should be able to generate evidence, monitor environmental and social impacts and hold regulators and mining companies accountable throughout the life of an operation.
For Ghana, the issue is becoming increasingly difficult to separate from the sustainability of the mining industry itself.
The sector is generating record export earnings and rising fiscal revenues, but continued expansion will require a social licence from communities that experience the immediate consequences of extraction.
The overhaul of Ghana’s mineral-governance framework therefore presents an opportunity to redefine that relationship.
The ultimate test will not be whether District Mining Committees are written into a new law or whether community development agreements become mandatory. It will be whether people living in mining areas gain meaningful influence over decisions, receive a visible share of the economic benefits and can point to lasting improvements in livelihoods, infrastructure and environmental protection after the minerals have been removed.
