BENEFITS FROM OUR RESOURCES (OCT 3, 2009)

IT is very common to hear Ghanaians bemoan pervasive poverty although the country is richly endowed. This is because the wealth does not reflect in the standard of living of the people.
The spectacle of want and deprivation hits any visitor to mining communities such as Obuasi, Tarkwa, Prestea and Nsuta.
Majority of the people in these communities live in abject poverty, while the few who control the mining operations and other economic ventures display affluence and the good things of life.
By the act of Providence, we have been blessed with other natural resources — oil and gas — which, by all indications, can lift us from the present low level of development to the stage where we can be in the class of the so-called advanced economies of the world, depending on how these resources are managed.
Already, we have been warned about the potential dangers in the exploration of oil and gas because in other jurisdictions the resources have turned out to be a curse rather than a blessing.
The DAILY GRAPHIC does not expect our leaders to re-invent the wheel but to grab the opportunities inherent in the challenges so that the oil find will help push our agenda of attaining a middle-income status by 2015 faster.
It is against this background that we welcome the advice by the Catholic Bishop of Ho, the Most Rev Francis Lodonu, to Ghanaians to be positive about the country’s natural resources in terms of their exploration, sustainable use and equity in revenue sharing.
A GHANAIAN TIMES report yesterday said the Catholic Bishop, speaking as a member of the National Peace Council (NPC) in Kumasi, said, “The NPC believes Ghana should not see gold and other minerals as a curse,” in apparent reference to the numerous conflicts among stakeholders in the exploration of natural resources.
Even though there is open discussion of a number of issues of national concern, the involvement of the people in determining what the royalties paid to the district assemblies and the stools or skins are used for is still very low.
Most of the conflicts in the country and other parts of the world are linked to the exploration of natural resources and the sharing of the revenue.
The DAILY GRAPHIC expects our leaders to spearhead the exploration of these resources for the good of the people.
Unfortunately, on a number of occasions these resources did not help to promote the good of the people because of lack of equity in the sharing of the resources and the use of force to suppress dissent in the mining communities.
Sustainable development is only about the exploitation of what God has endowed us with in such a way that future generations can be guaranteed a livelihood on earth.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, calls on mining companies to play by the rule, such that their operations will uplift the standard of living of the people.
Presently, many Ghanaians, especially those who live in the mining communities, are convinced that they will be better off if no one disturbs nature through mining operations that result in the pollution of their water sources and the degradation of their lands.
The price is counted in costs such as health problems, poverty and conflicts.