Help change narrative on reportage for mining -MINCOM CEO urges Journalists

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission (MINCOM) of Ghana, Mr Addae Antw-Boasiako, has urged the media practitioners to change the narrative on their reportage about the mining of the gold and other precious metal materials in the country.

According to Mr Antw-Boasiako, he generally depemds on the journalists to help change the narratives for the minerals and mining activities.

Speaking to senior journalists who were drawn from the print, radio, online news portals and electronic media houses during a two day media engagement workshop solely being organised by MINCOM in Accra from Thursday October 1, 2020 to Friday October 2, 2020, Mr Antw-Boasiako entreated journalists to carry out thorough investigations and be circumspect in their reportage on the minerals and mining sector.

This, according to him, is because mining is of crucial essence to the socio-economic well-being of the country, which in effect means that matters relating to the sector should not be misrepresented, but should be accurate.

According to him, after the media engagement of the Commission’s legal and regulations frameworks, the media practitioners would have the chance to have objective and balance views of the minerals and mining activities in the country.

The CEO of MINCOM added that mining is not purely based on illegal small scale mining operations called in the local perlance as the galamsey operations.

According to him, mining is perhaps is a main state of Ghana, saying that “l was looking forward for journalists to have a different mind set for mining.”

He opined that the journalists should tell the compilling stories to general public about how the real or actual minng activities are done in the mine sites.

He stated that the journalists should write stories to recommend the mining regulatory sector players that they are doing good jobs and works for mother Ghana which hitherto have generally boost socio-economic benefits to the minerals and mining sector.

“I want to advise journalists to be very objective to point out to the mining regulatory players from the political points, either the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) points of view about what are really hampering in the minerals and mining sector in Ghana.

“I want to urge journalists to be able to tell the world that because of the relatively rise in a gold price, Ghana is going to earn between 2.5 and 1 per cent extral income.”

“I want the journalists to also tell me about why the chiefs in the various mining affecting communities should not be supporting the illegal small scale mining activities know as the galamsey operations,” he stressed.

He stated that a lot would be depended on the journalists from the general public to know what are really hampering in the mining communities as well as the mining sector.

He hinted that plans were underway by the Commission to take some selected journalists to the mine sites of the mining operating communities to see how the actual mine operations are done.

“We are deciding to take journalists on the tour to the various mining sites because we have realised that many journalists who reported about mining activities or issues do not even know where the mines are or how the mining activity itself is done in the mine sites,” he stated.

He expressed worry about the huge destruction caused to the water bodies, forest reserves and environment by recalcitrant miners without resources to the laws and regulations of the mining activities.

Mincing no words, the CEO of MINCOM condemned the the acts of the irresponsible mining operations of the miners and called on the various traditional authorities, journalists and civil society organizations (CSOs) to help protect the destruction of the river bodies and forest range reserves.

Mr Antw-Boasiako assured his outfit’s commitment to continue to build capacity for journalists in the country to help them tell the real story about mining activities in the country.

Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.cim/ Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu