NCOM is Ten Years by Abdulai Darimani, TWN-Af

The National Coalition on Mining (NCOM) was formed in 2001 by four organizations led by Third World Network-Africa (TWN-Af). The four organisations are Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining now WACAM, League of Environmental Journalist and (TWN-Af). The formation of NCOM was in response to a specific problem of cyanide spillage at Abekoase near Tarkwa in the Wassa West District of Western Region by Gold Fields Ghana Limited.

On October 16th, 2001 one of the cyanide containment pipes of Goldfields Ghana Limited ruptured following heavy downpour. The rapture released unknown amount of cyanide solution into River Abekoase polluting the water and killing fishes. The then Minister for Environment was the first to openly defend the company by indicating that “only 52 fishes died” which meant that the pollution was not severe. TWN-Af viewed this as the usual practice of suppressing and sidelining community concerns and fundamental policy issues. By all estimation, the spillage raised a number of issues including the quality of environmental operating standards, compliance or enforcement, the quality of design of the mine, emergency response preparedness, company-community relations, and pollution with its health concerns for the environment and adjoining communities. TWN-Af believed that a collective approach would enhance the capacity of advocacy groups to effectively rebuff the position of the Minster and pressure for accountability of the state and the mining company. TWN-Af thus put up a meeting of the four organisations on October 23rd, 2001 which adopted a coordinated strategy and shared responsibilities reflecting the relative strengthens of the participating organisations.

Implementation of this coordinated campaign strategy produced important results including: concerted rebuttable through the media of the claim by the Minister; the establishment of a ministerial committee to investigate into the frequent cyanide spillages in the country by mining companies with representation of all the four organisations appearing before the committee; an imposition on Goldfields of One billion cedis the equivalent of One hundred Thousand Ghana cedis for the development of the communities affected by the spillage; a reconstruction of the road leading to Abekoase community by Goldfields Ghana Limited; and Goldfields Ghana Limited also bore the cost of medical checkup for representatives of Abekoase community who ate the dead fishes and drank the polluted water.

On November 20th, 2001, TWN-Af again convened a meeting of the four organisations and proposed that a coalition on mining by the name “National Coalition on Mining (NCOM)” be formed to provide a framework for collaboration and collective campaign. This was adopted together with the understanding that TWN-Af will be the secretariat and meetings of the coalition would rotate among the participating organisations. In early January 2002, Friends of the Earth Ghana expressed interest to join and was admitted at a meeting of the Coalition on February 12th, 2002.

Since its creation, the Coalition has launched and implemented a number of coordinated campaigns. These included the “Stop surface mining in forest reserves in 2002 through”; “Stop violence in mining in 2007 through”; and “Develop a comprehensive national mining policy”, and “Reform the Minerals and Mining Law”. These coordinated campaigns have resulted in important outcomes as follows:
• The stop surface mining in forest reserves campaign has contributed to a drastic reduction in the number of companies applying to mine in forest reserves from 17 to 5, and also a decision by government to reduce the size of forest reserves to be subject for mining from 2% to 0.01%.
• Through the Stop violence in mining campaign, NCOM in 2007 successfully influenced a change in the agenda of the Ghana Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to carry out a study on the social and economic rights of communities affected by mining (see minutes of NCOM meeting with CHRAJ, 2007). Report of the study was published in 2008 and affirmed most of the human rights concerns raised by NCOM.
• In 2005, NCOM successfully influenced significant changes to a Minerals and Mining Bill which became an Act in 2006, (Act 703). An important part of the changes is the legal recognition that all lands have value for compensation.
• In response to demands of NCOM, the Minerals Commission put up a draft national mining policy
Again, not only did these campaigns contribute to policy shift and practice but also have contributed to improve the viability and expansion of the Coalition. The first campaign to stop surface mining in forest reserves was particularly unique in the life of NCOM. In 2002, TWN-Af discovered that government was permitting exploration and production of gold mining by surface technology in the remaining forest reserves. In addition to recommending a campaign to stop the policy and practice, TWN-Af also proposed that NCOM be expanded beyond the five organisations. The proposal to expand the scope of NCOM beyond five organisations generated internal debate as some participating members felt that the expansion would dilute the concentration on mining. Eventually however, the two proposals were adopted and in March 2002, a much wider campaign to stop surface mining in forest reserves was launched. The launch and implementation of this campaign resulted in the expansion of the Coalition bringing together over twenty NGOs working and interested in issues of mining, forestry, wildlife, environment, human rights, gender, public interest litigation, researchers, and the media but united on the broader theme mining.

Following the expansion, membership of NCOM was equally redefined to include three broad layers i.e. representatives of community based organisations/groups in mining areas, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and individuals working and or interested in mining and mining related issues. After the redefinition, the Coalition launched a vigorous campaign to expand community representation. Today, NCOM has membership in all large-scale mining concessions throughout Ghana. Since 2002, NCOM has remained a formidable and diverse platform for learning and sharing, information dissemination, confidence and capacity building, amplifying community voice, pressure, solidarity and coordinated campaigns.

In 2006, the Coalition institutionalised a National Campaign Forum of Communities. The main objective of the forum has been to create the opportunity for promoting community voice, improving networking, shared analysis of the challenges of mining, and direct engagement of communities with policy officials/political office holders. Each year, the forum brings together a mix of participants drawn from communities affected by mining, small scale artisanal miners, NGOs, sister networks, individuals and policy officials to discuss issues affecting communities and development in the mining sector. Based on the principle of rotation meeting, the forum also rotate among participating community based organisations. The first forum was held in Techire in Newmont Ahafo gold mie concession, the second in Etwebo/Akoti at Chirano Gold Mine concession, the third in Obuasi at the concession of AngloGold-Ashanti. This year (2011), the forum takes place in Prestea at the concession of Golden Ridge Resources Limited.
These important results generated from coordinated and collective advocacy came on the back of fundamental challenges. These include inadequate funding, the apathetic attitude of some members of the coalition, the approach of some international NGOs in the domestic space which often seek to compete rather than complement and the apparent lack of convergence of individual organisation’s interest with the collective agenda of the coalition.

As we celebrate ten years of advocacy, these are some of the challenges which we must work hard to overcome. The growth and dominance of corporate impunity provides no option but to collaborate and consolidate our collective strength not only for resisting the impunity but for providing alternatives for policy and practice. It is through this diverse platform that we stand a greater chance of harnessing expertise for meeting these demands.