By:Akwasi Agyei Annim

The New Patriotic Party’s flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has announced his plan to amend the Minerals Act if he wins the upcoming presidential elections.

He emphasised that the proposed amendment would incorporate the Chiefs into the mineral licensing process, ensuring their involvement before any miner can obtain a license to operate in a given area.

Dr Bawumia said this when he addressed the Western Regional House of Chiefs on Thursday during his Western Regional campaign tour.

He identified the lack of involvement of traditional authorities in mining licensing as a significant issue facing the Small-Scale Mining Sector.

As a solution, he proposed to amend the Minerals Act to include Chiefs in his mining industry formalization programme if he became President.

He stated, “We want to formalise small-scale mining, but we cannot be successful without the participation of Chiefs. The chiefs have to be part of the licensing of miners in their locality. They have to be part of the whole process. And so, we have to make the necessary amendments to the Mining Act to do all of this. Decentralise the Mineral Commission to be in the various districts, decentralise the Environmental Protection Agency.”