GHANA INSTITUTE OF SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROFESSIONALS (GhISEP) PRESS RELEASE ON PRESS STATEMENT BY HON. MINISTER FOR LANDS & NATURAL RESOURCES ON ENQUIRY REPORT ON MULTIPLE FATALITY ACCIDENT AT NEWMONT AHAFO MILL EXPANSION (A.M.E.) PROJECT ON 7TH APRIL 2018
The Ghana Institute of Safety and Environmental Professionals (GhISEP) followed with shock the outcome of investigations into the multiple fatalities that occurred at Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (Ahafo Mine) on 7th April 2018 in which six people died and four others sustained various degrees of injuries.
Even though the release fell short of outlining the failures or disclosing the cause(s) that were established through the investigation, it went ahead to explain the recommendations which was mainly fines. Some of which has no basis in the law in Ghana.
It must be clearly stated that as a professional body that advocates for health, safety and the environment, we are happy about the way the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources handled the incident and the seriousness the Hon. Minister in particular attached to the incident. Nevertheless, we are scandalized by the hefty USD2.7 million illegal fines the Hon. Minister has imposed in addition to the legal fines prescribed by the investigation team that are grounded in law.
Whilst Government has to take action against violations and especially where it leads to loss of lives and justified by the laws, we are of the opinion that Government should not be picking and choosing and varying the sanctions based on feelings and opinions of ministers. Again, we are against the Government not respecting the laws in applying sanctions.
The L.I. 2182 (Minerals and Mining Health, Safety and Technical Regulations, 2012) prescribes the fines for various violations. It was clear from the release report that the Investigators applied the correct penalties and respected the law in arriving at the penalty amount. However, the Minister threw caution into the wind and violated the regulations by imposing additional fines of USD2.7m to be paid by Newmont, DRA and Consar (US500,000, USD2,000,000 & USD200,000 respectively). The Hon. Minister tried hiding under the powers of minister to grant mineral rights in regulations 5 of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006, Act 703 to impose the fines.
The minister has no such powers to impose the untenable fines he imposed. Under the Minerals and Mining Act 2006, Act 703 Section 5(1) which states that subject to subsections (4) and (5), the Minister on behalf of the President and on the recommendations of the Commission may negotiate, grant, revoke, suspend or renew mineral rights in accordance with the act. Imposing a fine has nothing to do with mineral rights.
Under L.I. 2182, the highest penalty for a person who contravenes any of the provisions of the regulations for which a penalty is provided an amount of USD10,000 and where a penalty if not provided USD5,000. It appears that about seven (7) violations were established and as a result, the Investigators imposed the maximum penalty of USD10,000 for each of the offence and additional USD200 for each day the violation took place. This is the right thing to do. We therefore call on the Hon. Minister to cancel the additional fines imposed by his ministry and allow only fines imposed by the Mines Inspectors / Investigators to stand.
Again with this precedent, the government must respond in similar fashion and show interest in all disasters irrespective of the industry. And not be only mining biased as clearly shown in this case. It must be noted that the mining industry is the safest industry in Ghana with regulations covering almost every aspect of their operations. From exploration to decommission and closure. Almost every mining company in Ghana is OHSAS 18001 certified, and complies with several voluntarily codes including International Cyanide Code. Inspectors of mines visit mines almost every month to check compliance with the regulations and standards.
We have seen several disasters in this country including gas stations fires and explosions, continual road crashes that results in several needless deaths. In a case in point; the MMT Bus crash that occurred at Kintampo in February 2016, where we had over 71 fatalities in a singular incident. To date, we have no public information whether or not, the victims are even adequately compensated. But in this case, the companies involved have gone ahead to set up a foundation for the incident victims families.
We think, as unfortunate as the incident was, Newmont deserve commendation for how they have managed the incident and the affected families.
Signed
/Nana Annor Amihere II
National President
Ghana Institute of Safety And Environmental Professionals (GhISEP)