By Bubu Klinogo
The Third World Network (TWN) – Africa, an NGO, has been lauded for its contributions to the socio-economic development of the country. The commendation came as the Network held a public forum in Accra to mark thirty years of its operations in Ghana.
Speaking at the forum, Dr Rose Mensah Kutin, Executive Director, ABANTU for Development, commended TWN-Africa for creating the platform to engage stakeholders to discuss issues of sustainable development.
She said TWN-Africa had worked with the small-scale miners in shaping policies to position them to negotiate better conditions of service.
For his part, the Executive Director, International Development Economics Associates, Charles Abugre lauded TWN-Africa’s achievements in the mining space and called on the authorities to move away from the dependence of raw commodities for export by adding value to these raw resources.
The Coordinator of Third World Network (TWN)-Africa, Dr Yao Graham, enumerated the key roles TWN Africa had played and continue to play, especially in the mining sector. According to him, TWN-Africa had played a key role in the transformation of public awareness and attitudes on minerals and development issues in Ghana.This, he said, has led to fostering deeper public scrutiny of mining activities in the country. Dr Graham emphasised TWN-Africa’s role in transforming how Ghanaians evaluated the activities in the mining sector, shifting from a focus on foreign direct investment and export revenues to a more comprehensive cost-benefit analysis.
The TWN-Africa’s 30th anniversary public lecture focused on the organisation’s contributions over the past 30 years to citizens’ struggles for equitable and transformative policies and offered perspectives on some of the current issues on Ghana’s development and policy agenda.
During an open discussion, there were heated arguments about the salt mining operations of the Electrochem company in the Ada Songhor enclave. TWN has been leading an advocacy the grant of the concession to Electrochem in clear disregard of the development plan set out for the area. According to TWN, following the development plan will make way for multiple companies to operate in the area alongside the indigenes instead of the current situation where everything has been given to Electrochem. However, representatives of the company have pointed to numerous benefits the communities are deriving from the presence of Electrochem. Dr. Graham, however, told GBC News that the only way out is for the Electrochem deal to be abrogated.
Dr. Graham underscored the importance of TWN-Africa’s partnerships in advancing its advocacy efforts. He cited the organisation’s collaboration with the National Coalition of Mining, formed in 2001, as instrumental in amplifying the voices of affected communities.
Partnerships with key organisations like WACAM and the Centre for Public Interest Law provided TWN-Africa with grassroots insights into the challenges faced by communities in mining-intensive regions such as the Wassa West District.
Established in 1994, TWN-Africa has made contributions to organising marginalised groups to raise their interests in both the local and international policy arenas.
