The Deputy Minister for Information, Fatima Abubakar, has disclosed that since the launching of the community mining scheme by the Akufo-Addo led administration, about 82,800 jobs have been created so far.
In order for these miners to get the necessary training in order not to do it haphazardly, many were enrolled onto the University of Mines and Technology.
Speaking to Kwaku Dawuro on Movement in the morning show, honourable Abubakar said that “many would be questioning what kind of community mining has created such a huge number of jobs. Therefore, I will be mentioning a few where some could be found and you could send your reporters to go and confirm that; Tarkwa, Kunsu, Adankwami, Kenyasi, Asante Akyem, Asunafo and many more- so if you doubt and you’re in any of these towns you can confirm that”.
She went further to say that they have offices also in the town. “Perhaps you may think it’s a CHP compound. If you interested in the scheme, you could go to any of these towns I have mentioned and ask of where the community mining scheme is, you will be shown”.
Speaking on how the selection is made, she noted that the community expresses interest before the scheme is implemented in the community. Moreover, the lands are under the custody of the chiefs.
In furtherance she said that there have been a lot of consultation, public engagements, community visitation and research which are not in the public domain- and even within the mining district, they know that there are such engagements.
“People who are beneficiaries of this program know about this”, she said.
The community mining scheme is a novel mining model by the Government to curb illegal small-scale mining in the country. The Scheme stimulates wealth creation, promote community involvement and linkages with other sectors of the economy.