MME On Sand Mining Activity In Louisiana
By John Dennis Weah
weahdennis2006@gmail.com+231 776460595
At a recent meeting, the office of the inspector general at the Ministry of Mines and Energy embarked on a community engagement to ensure a cordial working Business Act to develop a national strategic plan.
The plan is to bring together sand mining communities, extractive industries, unions and the government.
The meeting was convened in the Township of Caldwell at the Taylor Mayor Compound Administrative Hall. It was attended by affected community chairpersons and other auxiliary leaderships.
It also brought together residents from Down Street Community and Taylor Mayor Compound in Caldwell. Others came from Sass Town and Fofee Town Community, located in Louisiana Township, rural Montserrado County.
Agatius B. Coker, the ministry IG, said that the Governance Auditing Commission (GAC) is keen on the functioning of sand mining operations, and the usage of revenue generated in various communities. “We want people to benefit from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),” a decision he clarified as an outcome of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that mandates companies to give back to a particular community of what is expected by law.
Residents also observed irregularities during the conduct of the meeting. The irregularities concerned the tracking of orders and consignments of truck loads dispatches.
But Mr. Coker swiftly responded that resolving the lapses requires collectiveness and collaboration of the new initiative that stands to govern and prevent party litigant from losses.
Coker said GAC has lay emphasis through citations to his office that the mining sector is regulated by the local authority on how funds are expended to community’s coffers, which are accounted for a financial management with credible signatories as to how monies are withdrawn from the coffers.
It is an effort to constitute a system that will account for legitimate procedure and the communities are tasked with obligation to establish a five-man delegation for check and balances of income generated from the sales of sand in each community.
The committee when set up, shall form part of the authority backed by the Office of the County Superintendent, and in other instances, the city mayor to guarantee the safety and expenditure of the community monies.
The process earmarked is to build a proper and mutual relationship of understanding with all actors and to also strengthen transparency and accountability for smooth operations across the country.
Coker said that the various committees shall have the support of advisors, who themselves will be selected within the local governance structure in every locality.
The mechanism, according to him, will curtail existing misunderstandings and other flaws.