Ghana Bauxite In Trouble

Management of Ghana Bauxite Company Limited has incurred the wrath of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after failing to submit its monthly environmental monitoring report for assessment for a year. The company, which is a major producer of bauxite in Ghana, operates in Bibiani, Anhwiaso and Bekwai districts and provides aluminum mining services. Bauxite mining covers a huge surface area and has caused environmental devastation in many places where it done. Though the Government of Ghana has a stake in Ghana Bauxite Company, 80 per cent share is owned by a Chinese company, Bosai Minerals Group. The refusal of the company to submit its report to the EPA made it impossible for the Agency to assess its environmental performance for the year 2010. Since 2009, the EPA has introduced an initiative called AKOBEN, an environmental performance rating programme that uses five colours, red, orange, blue, green and gold to show companies compliance to the environmental requirements. AKOBEN rating is evaluated by analyzing more than one hundred performance indicators that include qualitative data as well as qualitative and visual information. The red colour means a company has not fulfilled some legislative instrument requirement, which could create hazardous waste and discharges. An orange colour stands for a satisfactory rating, which means a company was not able to meet the regulatory standards for conventional pollutants, non-toxics and noise pollution while a blue colour gives a good rating showing adequate compliance with environmental standards. The maiden edition generated uproar as most of the mining companies that were involved were not happy with their rating. A total of 50 manufacturing companies and 11 mining companies failed to secure excellent rating. However, Ghana Bauxite Company was the only company in the entire AKOBEN programme that declined to submit its monthly monitoring data to the EPA. “This kind of non-compliance by Ghana Bauxite or any other company will not be permitted as it is a serious violation of the national environmental law,” said Daniel S. Amlalo, Acting Director of the EPA at the second edition of the AKOBEN programme. The submission of report on the monitoring of environmental data is just one requirement under the seven categories which include legal issues, hazard waste management, toxic releases, community complaints, environmental best practice and corporate social responsibility and in all Ghana Bauxite attained a red rating. During the first edition of AKOBEN, Ghana Bauxite Company obtained red after cooperating with the EPA. He said the agency is also reviewing the enforcement procedure to ensure that a company that remains in the red category for multiple years could be downgraded to a red minus rating while new regulatory actions including financial penalties and other legal proceedings are being considered. When DAILY GUIDE spoke to Joe Nsiah, a board secretary of Ghana Bauxite Company on phone after several fruitless attempts to speak to the management, he claimed the company had not defaulted in submitting its reports. “We have not defaulted. How can a mining company operate for a whole year without submitting its report to the EPA?” he asked rhetorically. He said “we were surprised when we read in the newspapers about the disclosure so we called the EPA and they explained to us that it was a mistake.” In the meantime, Mr Nsiah said the company is preparing to respond by issuing rejoinder though he could not state specifically when it would do so. Ransford Sekyi, Head of the Mining Department at the EPA, in an interview, affirmed the Agency’s position on Ghana Bauxite Company. “They would be fined but we want to follow the due process and in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology the quantum of the fine will be decided and communicated soon.” He was of the view that the sanction would serve as a deterrent to other companies, adding, “it would send a signal to especially foreign companies that Ghana cannot be taken for a ride but we also do not want to create the impression that Ghana is unfavorable to business.”