Ghana – Big Man, Big Envelope, Finish: Chinese Corporate Exploitation in Small-Scale Mining

The phrase was used by one member of the focus group, a former worker from Shaanxi Mining (Ghana) Limited (SMGHL), and attributed to the Chinese management of the company. It was chorused by the rest of the focus group and appeared to be a phrase that was oft repeated amongst local community members as a humorous, but salient, reference to the manner in which SMGHL operated.

Data collection methods entailed key informant interviews with governmental, NGO and private sector actors at central, regional and district levels, plus interviews and focus groups at community level. At national level, interviews were undertaken in April 2014 with relevant central government stakeholders, including the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources; the Minerals Commission; and the Environment Protection Agency. Fieldwork in the Upper East region was undertaken in July 2014 by the authors. Regional-level interviews were undertaken in Bolgatanga, capital of the Upper East region, including the Lands Commission, the Minerals Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana Police Service, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the judicial service, as well as international and local NGOs involved in mining issues and in attempts to resolve the local conflict that had emerged. In Talensi district, the team engaged with the political and administrative leadership (i.e. the District Chief Executive, District Coordinating Director, Planning Officer), as well as the leadership of the District directorates of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and Ghana Health Service (GHS), the district police commander, and the regent of Tongo and his council of elders. At the mining site in the community of Gbane, we interviewed community leaders, traditional authorities, school teachers, the local District Assembly member, community-based organisations, including the local activist group, the Movement of Gbane People for Justice, as well SMGHL and the two mining concession holders working with the mining company. A total of 21 interviews were undertaken involving 35 respondents. Additionally, focus groups discussions were held in six local communities in Talensi district, three in mining communities and three in non-mining communities. Visits were also made to the mining sites of two small-scale licensed concession holders not working with SMGHL, as well as to SMGHL’s administrative and processing site.

See presentation by Ghana’s Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources on 23 September 2014, http://​www.​theigc.​org/​multimedia/​growth-week-2014-country-session-ghana/​?​back=​3837.

Aubynn et al. (2010, p. 3) state that out of an estimated 250,000 ASM operators, “less than 30 percent […] are duly registered and licensed”. An earlier report estimated that 85 per cent operated without a licence (Carson et al. 2005). Therefore, the large majority of ASM operators remain informal and illicit.

Ghana News Agency, 11 May 2012, http://​www.​modernghana.​com/​newsthread1/​394850/​1/​.

A signed and dated copy of this agreement has been seen.

The commitment fee paid to Yenyeya by SMGHL of ‘not more than’ $100,000 was made up of US $15,000 upon signing the agreement; $10,000 upon receipt of Purbotabaa’s mining concession; $10,000 upon SMGHL entering the mining concession to begin operations; and ‘after the construction of the shaft, YENYEYA will be paid an amount of Ten Thousand US Dollars every month until the final balance is paid fully upon the completion of the Mine Construction including the Processing Plant’. Contract Mining and Management Agreement between Yenyeya Mining Group and SMGHL, signed and dated 24 September 2008.

The defendants’ lawyer stated in January 2015 that this failure by the judicial services to provide a Chinese interpreter had been going on for over two years. Interview, Accra, 14 January, 2015.

‘Tindana’ literally means the land owner within the people of Upper East and Upper West regions of Ghana. The tindana holds the land in trust for the people, in much the same way as do chiefs in other regions of the country. Additionally, the tindana is also the spiritual leader who performs traditional sacrifices to the gods of land on behalf of the people. Therefore, in the two Upper regions, chiefs do not own land, they are only the political leaders of their communities. Hence, the dispute concerning the Gbane chief’s lease of land to SMGHL.

This case is also ongoing, although similar charges against a third defendant have been dismissed.

The district police chief stated that 20 police officers drawn from Bolgatanga and Tongo were stationed at SMGHL’s mine.

See http://​ibisghana.​org/​aboutibisinghana​/​

Corruption is certainly not limited to developing countries in Africa or elsewhere, and there are many examples of corrupt practices in countries of the Global North, at times involving large corporations; see Szeftel (2000, pp. 296–7) for examples in Western Europe in the period 1999–2000.