Addressing Mining Sector Conflicts in Ghana

Abstract

During the World Bank and IMF-led Structural Adjustments Program implementation in the 1980s, the extractive industry was also targeted in many developing countries, including Ghana. Although liberalization was envisioned to bring the needed development to the country and mining communities, the evidence on the ground proves otherwise. The outcome has been the prevalence of conflicts between mining communities and mining companies, mainly over issues of environmental pollution, competition over land use, unfulfilled promises, resettlement, and compensation. Using online sources/data and adopting the ‘developmental state’ approach, which advocates for state-induced development as a conceptual model, this research investigates the Ghanaian government's role in addressing conflict in the mining sector and the challenges therein. The results show that the state has implemented several initiatives consistent with the developmental state approach. However, emanating from competitive clientelism, various challenges impeded the government’s initiatives from producing the desired outcomes, hence the sector's persistent conflicts.