The reassigned CEO of the Minerals Commission, Martin Kwaku Ayisi (L) and notable small-scale miners featured in report.
Some small-scale miners in the capital of Ghana’s Upper East Region, Bolgatanga, have expressed both joy and sadness following media reports that the Mahama administration has removed Martin Kwaku Ayisi as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission.
They want him sacked, not reassigned, and prosecuted, not spared.
But reports emerged Wednesday that he had been moved to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
The reports did not mention what his new role would be at the ministry and the cause of his removal from the commission he took charge of in 2021.
“It is very heartwarming to hear that the current government has removed Martin Ayisi,” reacted the Upper East Regional Secretary of the Ghana National Small-Scale Miners Association (GNASSM), Yaro B. Zumah.
“But it is also heartbreaking to hear that he has been reassigned. And the question we ask is: where has he been reassigned to under this government? He has caused a lot of mess and we anticipated that he would have been removed even on January 8, 2025.”
Similarly, the Managing Director of Yenyeya Mining Group, Charles Taleog Ndanbon, accused Ayisi of causing “a big mess” in Talensi, a gold-rich district in the region.
“What is he going to do at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources after causing all the big mess in Talensi? He never gave any useful advice to the former government and that was why galamsey (illegal mining operations) boomed under his watch.
“If Ayisi continues to be in the mining space, the galamsey menace will continue and it will worsen. There is no difference between being in charge as the CEO of the Minerals Commission and being reassigned to the ministry; it’s the same thing,” said Ndanbon.
Details of accusations against Ayisi
In 2022, several small-scale miners in Talensi accused Ayisi and a former Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu, of demanding furniture from them as part of their corporate social responsibility to the state.
The miners said the demand was made after Shaanxi Mining (Ghana) Limited, a Chinese firm now called Earl International Group (Ghana) Gold Limited, acquired a controversial large-scale mining licence from the commission and, with the aid of some local actors, took over several already-licensed concessions owned by some indigenous small-scale miners in the district.
The regional minister (Stephen Yakubu) told the author of this report in 2022 that the furniture demand was made by Ayisi at a meeting with the miners in Bolgatanga. But Ayisi denied the claims when this writer contacted him the same year.
The money spent on purchasing the furniture (thirty executive chairs) was deducted from the “goodwill money” the small-scale miners received from the Chinese company after their concessions were taken from them.
“Does anybody buy this kind of thing for the government? I don’t know anything about this. I’ve not spoken to anybody about this,” Ayisi said.
Subsequently, a small-scale miner, named Robert Boazor Tampoare and said to be an Ayisi supporter, publicly affirmed at a news conference in Bolgatanga that Ayisi demanded furniture from the small-scale miners.
In addition to the above, Ayisi also stands accused of issuing a large-scale mining licence to Earl International Group (Ghana) Gold Limited, aiding the foreign company to take over several already-licensed concessions owned by Ghanaians in Talensi.
He and Stephen Yakubu (the former regional minister) further took part in signing an agreement with the company as mediators for the takeover of those concessions— an undertaking some of the small-scale miners are very unhappy about. A number of those indigenous small-scale mining companies currently are pursuing legal action against the Minerals Commission and the Chinese company at high courts in the region.
There are small-scale miners who claim they paid licence renewal fees to the commission some years ago but the commission, according to them, has failed to process and approve their renewal requests to date.
“This is a man who was issuing licence over licence, creating problems and conflicts for us here in the Upper East Region. As of now, we are even having deliberations about how we can report him to EOCO (Economic and Organised Crime Office).
“We are happy that he is no more in charge of the Minerals Commission. He should rest assured that we will table our petition before EOCO very soon to investigate him,” Zumah stated.
Adding his voice, Ndanbon urged state anti-corruption bodies to investigate Ayisi’s work record at the commission from the time he served as its deputy chief executive officer to the day of his removal.
“They should check what he has done from the time he was deputy CEO and when he was made substantive CEO to date. They should look at his record.
“They should check him. We are ready to provide useful hints to support the investigations,” he said.
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana
